G7

Philip Davies Excerpts

Wednesday 10th June 2015 Commons Chamber

[Philip Davies (Shipley) (Con)]

The Prime Minister has been widely praised for his crackdown on corruption. Will he therefore explain why his Government provide so much overseas aid to some of the most corrupt countries in the world, leading many of them to spend more than 2% of their GDP on their military, which is particularly galling when we are now at risk of falling below that threshold ourselves?

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend and I agree on so many things and have so many fruitful discussions, but this is one area where I know we are not going to agree. He passionately believes that the 0.7% is a commitment too far. I think it is important not only for Britain’s moral conscience but for our security. So many of the problems we are dealing with, whether the instability coming out of Libya, terrorism coming out of Somalia or drugs coming out of west Africa, are problems of failing states and failing Governments. That is where our aid budget can make a real difference to our national security. If we take a country such as Somalia, it has a problem with drugs, a problem with terrorism and a problem with migration. At the heart of this is making sure there can be a Somali Government that represent all the people and can make that country safer and more prosperous. I would argue that that is in our national interest. It is not an alternative to our defence budget. It is part of the whole approach to keeping this country and our people safe.