NDM6309 - United Kingdom Independence Party debate

NDM6309 Neil Hamilton (Mid and West Wales)

To propose that the National Assembly for Wales:

1. Believes that, whilst there is a case to support humanitarian and emergency aid to poorer countries especially in specific crises, it makes no sense to fix the foreign aid budget at an arbitrary 0.7 per cent of gross national income (GNI).

2. Notes that the UK national debt has been doubled since 2009 and now stands at £1.6 trillion, which equates to £22,000 for every UK man, woman and child.

3. Believes that the wellbeing of future generations must be considered when making all public spending decisions and that the foreign aid budget should be evaluated by the UK Government in the context of other pressing needs at home.

4. Calls for the repeal of the International Development (Official Development Assistance Target) Act 2015, which enshrined the 0.7 per cent target figure in UK law.

5. Believes that much of the foreign aid budget is wasted, diverted by corruption and spent unproductively.

6. Calls on the Welsh Government to urge the UK Government to reduce foreign aid target spending to 0.2 per cent of GNI, which is similar to the US, Italian and Spanish aid budgets.

7. Believes that the £8 billion savings which would be released should be redirected proportionately to the UK nations and spent on deserving causes like the NHS or social housing.

‘International Development (Official Development Assistance Target) Act 2015’