Boris Johnson under pressure to cut £14.6b foreign aid budget after China and India handed £151m
BORIS Johnson was last night under increased pressure to cut the £14.6billion foreign aid budget after it emerged China and India received £151million in UK cash - a rise of 12 per cent.
While both giants splashed out on space programmes, British taxpayers paid for schemes to cut salty diets, send text alerts to problem drinkers and find if yoga helps diabetes sufferers.
Foreign aid grew from £493million in 2017 to £14.6billion last year, according to official figures seen by the Daily Mail.
The British taxpayer donated £70,315 to a Chinese project to encourage shoppers not to buy products made with pangolins, an endangered species whose scales are used in traditional medicines, while its meat is a high-end delicacy.
Meanwhile £20,062 of aid was spent on looking at how solar panels could power India’s railways.
Andrew Mitchell, a former international development secretary, said giving taxpayers’ cash to China had brought the spending into “disrepute”.
He said: “Spending hardearned taxpayers’ money in China, a country powering out of poverty and attaining superpower status brings Britain’s brilliant development work into disrepute.
"Care in what is financed should be taken by all departments if reputational damage is to be avoided.”
Figures show that the UK provided £1 in every £8 of foreign aid handed out by 29 major countries last year.
A Government spokesman said: ‘Our development work with China and India, alongside our world-class defence and diplomacy, is crucial for addressing issues such as trade, climate change and human rights.’
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