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The UK government has recently announced a reduction in its foreign aid from 0.7% to 0.5% of national income, to compensate for the pandemic. In her response, Kate Hampton, chief executive of the Children's Investment Fund Foundation, referred to past years' British taxpayer generosity
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But it's not really generosity when the taxpayer has no choice in either the payment of taxes or the manner in which they're spent. Governments take money from the population, and then piss it down whichever drain takes their fancy, irrespective of the taxpayers' wishes. That's not taxpayer generosity, it's robbery.
Conservative MP Tom Tugendhat, chairman of the Commons foreign affairs committee, said: "When Britain withdraws, others step in. By cutting our aid, we have given states such as China and Russia an opportunity to expand their influence at Britain's expense."
James Landale and Becky Morton, diplomatic correspondent [sic], BBC News
Given that the cuts are being made to account for extra borrowing due to the pandemic, perhaps this is one way of getting President Pooh to pay for his pestilential shithole of a country's wrongdoing. It's not like he's going to accept responsibility otherwise. The savings to the UK would amount to approximately £4bn a year, which should go some way to paying for Chancellor Rishi Sunak's largesse. Just to think, a further 0.5% reduction could add another £10bn to help the nation out from under the curse of the Chongvirus.
And why should anyone worry about the the UK losing influence by cutting foreign aid? If someone only loves you for your money, then they don't really love you at all.