Overseas Development Debate
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Lord Foulkes of Cumnock
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Overseas Development
Lord Foulkes of Cumnock Excerpts(7 years ago)
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Lord Bates
My noble friend is absolutely right. This country has a proud record of providing leadership in the international community in the area of aid and assistance. It is important to put on record in the case of the Caribbean that the total assistance we provided immediately was some £62 million, of which only £5 million was ODA eligible. So the fact that it was not ODA eligible did not stop us from helping those in need, but because its purpose was obviously humanitarian and obviously going to people in need and distress, it should count.
Lord Foulkes of Cumnock (Lab)
My Lords, I commend the Minister on the work that he is doing in DfID—he is an excellent Minister. As he goes around the world, he will have seen the excellent work being done by the European Union in its assistance programme, particularly in countries where DfID does not operate. Is not that assistance in grave danger of being undermined if we withdraw from the European Union?