The supposedly cash-strapped British government, currently preparing punishing tax hikes and public service cuts to balance the books, will overspend by around a billion pounds on foreign aid due to the migrant influx.
Around £4 billion (~$4.7 billion) of the British government’s £11 billion (~$13 billion) f+oreign aid budget is being spent on dealing with asylum seekers in Britain itself — paying for them to enjoy free accommodation in luxurious hotels while paying customers are booted out, for example — which is a permissible use of so-called official development assistance (ODA) to which the government has inexplicably bound itself.
While taxpayers might expect that this would mean Britain simply had less money to literally give away to other countries at a time when they are warned they will be denied tax cuts and made to endure tax hikes, public service cuts, and a decline in real terms income in order to tackle inflation and a cost of living and energy crisis, this is apparently not the case, with the BBC reporting that spending will instead be allowed to go around one billion pounds over budget to make up the shortfall.
“Across government, there are significant pressures on the ODA budget due to the costs of accepting refugees from Afghanistan and Ukraine as well as wider migration challenges. We remain one of the largest global aid donors, spending more than £11bn in aid in 2021, and UK aid has recently gone towards those in need in the Horn of Africa and Pakistan,” said a statement from the Jeremy Hunt-led Treasury on the situation, apparently concerned with mollifying those who believe Britain should be giving away even more money rather than conservatives, who tend to view the foreign aid budget with justified scepticism.
“All spending decisions will be considered in the round by the Chancellor at the Autumn Statement,” the statement added.
