Portsmouth South MP Flick Drummond “wholeheartedly” supports the Government’s foreign aid budget because the money will help stop migrants from wanting to come to the UK as their opportunities improve at home.
Flick said 86% of British people believe in the importance of aid and the country should feel a sense of pride in the help it is giving.
'With the rise of the internet, people in poorer counties can see the lifestyle that we enjoy here in the developed world and it is no surprise that they want to migrate here,’ she told MPs during a Parliamentary debate on the subject this week.
'By developing other countries, we also help to prevent the large amount of migration that is denuding countries of their most valuable resource—their informed and educated population.
‘Our foreign aid must be directed towards building the economies of developing countries and it must continue to do so until it is no longer needed.
‘It is our responsibility as one of the world’s largest and most prosperous economies to help those in need and those in danger of exploitation.'
Flick pointed to the work Britain had done in Rwanda where aid had got a chaotic state on the road to recovery.
She also said that deploying British expertise through aid would open up more markets and improve our own economy, but more was needed to be done to explain exactly how aid is delivered to ensure public money is well spent and directed to the right ends.
Britain is the only major country to meet the UN target of spending 0.7% of its GDP on aid.