B1095 – Foreign Aid Control Bill 2017 watch

Saracen's Fez · 05-01-2017 22:51

B1095 – Foreign Aid Control Bill 2017, Nigel Farage MEP MP

Foreign Aid Control Bill 2017

A
BILL
TO

Control what foreign aid can be spent on

BE IT ENACTED by The Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Commons in this present Parliament assembled, in accordance with the provisions of the Parliament Acts 1911 and 1949, and by the authority of the same, as follows:-

1 Foreign aid

(1) The Department for International Development, or any other governmental department responsible for the distribution, or issuing of foreign aid may only issue foreign aid in for the purposes contained in this Act.
(2) A foreign aid contract may last a maximum of three (3) years before needing to be renewed by the Department for International Development.
(3) Foreign aid may not be paid to any country with a GDP larger than the United Kingdom's GDP, unless;
a. The foreign aid is being used in direct response to a natural disaster.
i. foreign aid used in response to a natural disaster must meet the natural disaster, and humanitarian requirements in this bill.
b. A qualifying foreign country is a country meeting section 1(3), and section 1(3)a

2 Infrastructure

(1) Foreign aid may be used to build infrastructure in a qualifying foreign country.
(2) Infrastructure shall include: roads, airports, sewerage systems, railways, train stations, hospitals, schools, housing, drainage, and emergency services buildings which include;
a. coastguard, fire service, ambulance service, police service, air ambulance service, mountain rescue, and search and rescue service.
(3) All foreign aid spent on infrastructure shall be paid directly to the company tasked with constructing the required infrastructure, or the government of the foreign country provided;
a. the government of the foreign country completes construction in an acceptable time as judged by the Department of International Development.
b. if the government fails to complete construction in an acceptable time, all future foreign aid will be stopped, and assets seized to replace lost money.

3 Industrial and trade investment

(1) Industrial investment is finance given to foreign companies to produce product fore export, or domestic consumption; or finance given to British companies for operations in the foreign country.
(2) Industrial investment may not be provided to foreign companies in, or British companies wanting to operate in, a country that places import tariffs on British goods.
(3) Foreign aid may be paid to a foreign a government who places a contract with the British government, or a British company within 6 months of the foreign aid being paid.
a. All contracts must be larger than the foreign aid paid.
b. If no contract is placed, foreign aid is stooped, and foreign assets seized to cover the loss in foreign aid.

4 Humanitarian and natural disasters

(1) Foreign aid may be used to pay for aid in any amount in response to a natural disaster or a humanitarian crisis.
(2) The aid must cover: tents, or other sleeping facilities; water supplies; food supplies; blankets; clothing; emergency medicine; heating supplies; water purification equipment; fuel for use by emergency vehicles, or aircraft; life saving devices such as but not limited to life jackets, rescue boats, aircraft used by emergency services, and vehicles used by emergency services.
(3) All aid items will be bought direct by the British government for distribution by representatives of the Department for International Development, the military, or government agencies and charities based in the country where there is a natural disaster, or humanitarian crisis.

5 General welfare

(1) Foreign aid my be used to purchase welfare items, including but not limited to, medical supplies, school supplies, and equipment for emergency services.
(2) All general welfare items will be purchased directly by the British government for distribution by representatives of the Department for International Development, the military, or government agencies and charities based in the country where there is a natural disaster, or humanitarian crisis.

6 Military aid

(1) All existing foreign military aid shall be paid for by the foreign aid budget.
(2) military aid is money given to foreign military for purposes of defending the foreign country, cooperating with the United Kingdom in foreign policy stances, or to fight a war.

7 Interpretations

(1) In this act an foreign aid is money donated by the British government to help a foreign country in times of distress, or to help the foreign country develop.
(2) In this act a welfare items is an item that boosts the welfare of the population as a whole.
a. In addition to welfare items included in section 5(1), a welfare item must be;
i. an items that helps more than one individual.
ii. an item that benefits the entire population.
iii. an item which is standard for people living in Britain.
iv. for example, paying for school supplies would be considered a welfare item but paying for a a group of individuals to have dance lessons would not be a welfare item.

8 Commencement, short title and extent

(1) This Act shall come into force after Royal Assent.
(2) This Act may be cited as the Aid Control Act 2017.
(3) This Act extends to the United Kingdom.

Notes

This Act aims to control foreign aid spending to prevent foreign aid being wasted on things the British public find largely unacceptable. This bill does not lower foreign aid, but restricts foreign aid to the things most needed, for instance, healthcare, education, humanitarian care, helping with natural disasters, and building infrastructure.

The second key part of this bill is to prevent foreign aid being paid to private companies who have a tendency to not use foreign aid for what is is intended to be used for, or do not use foreign aid efficiently. This Act changes foreign aid to be direct help given from Britain to a foreign country, or foreign individuals.

Nirvana1989-1994 · 05-01-2017 22:57

Can we vote on this yet?

Jacob E · 05-01-2017 23:02

(Original post by Nirvana1989-1994)
Can we vote on this yet?

There is a debate on the content of the bill before a vote by MPs in the Division Lobby.

Nirvana1989-1994 · 05-01-2017 23:03

(Original post by Nigel Farage MEP)
There is a debate on the content of the bill before a vote by MPs in the Division Lobby.

Okay.....

Aph · 05-01-2017 23:04

Surely you should use GDP per capita?
I don't see why military aid should be considered foreign aid.

Otherwise meh...

TitanCream · 05-01-2017 23:16

I'd vote aye. We need to fix ourselves up before we start being overly generous. A fair criteria, this is a logical bill.

CoffeeGeek · 05-01-2017 23:17

What about foreign aid spent on corrupt governments?

Jacob E · 05-01-2017 23:21

(Original post by CoffeeGeek)
What about foreign aid spent on corrupt governments?

If a corrupt government does not fit one of the sections in this bill all of the aid sent to the corrupt government stops.

CoffeeGeek · 05-01-2017 23:23

(Original post by Nigel Farage MEP)
If a corrupt government does not fit one of the sections in this bill all of the aid sent to the corrupt government stops.

It should really include it because that's not very clear.

Jammy Duel · 05-01-2017 23:26

(Original post by CoffeeGeek)
It should really include it because that's not very clear.

"Only" isn't clear?

Posted from TSR Mobile

Jacob E · 05-01-2017 23:28

(Original post by CoffeeGeek)
It should really include it because that's not very clear.

I do not believe aid to corrupt governments to keep rogue states on Britain's side works, what the aid does is make it harder for the rogue states to be defeated when their time comes. Corrupt governments abroad will stay corrupt; their decisions are based in realist theory, not idealist theory; the money is used to benefit the lives of the leaders, not strengthen the government; and Britain receives nothing in return.

Gladstone1885 · 05-01-2017 23:28

Aye

tengentoppa · 05-01-2017 23:55

I do believe foreign aid is useful in that it serves as the soft power arm of our foreign policy, while keeping up the pretence of abiding by our UN obligation.

But this bill seems compatible with that, and would certainly address the public disquiet over the more outrageous use of foreign aid spending.

RayApparently · 05-01-2017 23:59

Amazingly you've written a foriegn aid bill that I do not despise - I was sure that this would include severe limits on spending that would see many people harmed.

That said, I agree with my right honourable friend Aph that GDP per capita would be a more appropriate measure - even then it would not account of equality of wealth distribution. Those in poverty shouldn't suffer because their nation's elites are benefiting from a nominally high GDP.

As such 1(3) does not seem appropriate to me.

Jammy Duel · 06-01-2017 00:13

(Original post by RayApparently)
Amazingly you've written a foriegn aid bill that I do not despise - I was sure that this would include severe limits on spending that would see many people harmed.

That said, I agree with my right honourable friend Aph that GDP per capita would be a more appropriate measure - even then it would not account of equality of wealth distribution. Those in poverty shouldn't suffer because their nation's elites are benefiting from a nominally high GDP.

As such 1(3) does not seem appropriate to me.

Care to point out a single country with a high GDP per capita that has high poverty rates? It's one of those averages things, just like why the campus rape epidemic is clearly false. If there is a country with massive poverty but so much wealth going to the very top so as to have a very high GDP per capita I think we would have heard about it. We would have heard about the elites because they would be so incredibly wealthy, and we would have heard about the country because the lefty liberals wouldn't shut up about it.

RayApparently · 06-01-2017 00:22

(Original post by Jammy Duel)
Care to point out a single country with a high GDP per capita that has high poverty rates? It's one of those averages things, just like why the campus rape epidemic is clearly false. If there is a country with massive poverty but so much wealth going to the very top so as to have a very high GDP per capita I think we would have heard about it. We would have heard about the elites because they would be so incredibly wealthy, and we would have heard about the country because the lefty liberals wouldn't shut up about it.

I'm sure several of the oil rich countries would fit the bill - the legislation should not have holes in it. It should, especially when it comes to foriegn affairs, prepare for the world as it could be - and GDP per capita is a poor measure (though still better than GDP on it's own, hence my supporting Aph's suggestion).

CoffeeGeek · 06-01-2017 00:31

(Original post by RayApparently)
I'm sure several of the oil rich countries would fit the bill - the legislation should not have holes in it. It should, especially when it comes to foriegn affairs, prepare for the world as it could be - and GDP per capita is a poor measure (though still better than GDP on it's own, hence my supporting Aph's suggestion).

Maybe HDI would be a better measurement than GDP per capita?

RayApparently · 06-01-2017 00:33

(Original post by CoffeeGeek)
Maybe HDI would be a better measurement than GDP per capita?

Yes, HDI is probably the best available measurement. It would be crazy to think the UK was giving development aid to a country with a higher development index than the UK though.

Jammy Duel · 06-01-2017 00:55

(Original post by RayApparently)
I'm sure several of the oil rich countries would fit the bill - the legislation should not have holes in it. It should, especially when it comes to foriegn affairs, prepare for the world as it could be - and GDP per capita is a poor measure (though still better than GDP on it's own, hence my supporting Aph's suggestion).

Looking through the gini listings the first of the major oil producers are on par with the US and not much worse than most of Europe, ironically Venezuella has one of the highest gini coefficients in the world, and the top 10% earn on average 50 times that of the bottom 10%. digging deeper and trying to find even approximations where there is no data from the likes of the UN or OECD gives top end gini for the middle eastern oil producers only in the high 40s (by contrats South Africa is 63.1 and the worst in the world (excluding small states and autonomous regions), they still only have a 10:10 ratio in the low 30s and 20:20 in the high teens and this is their lorenz curve:

And this still doesn't change the simple mathematics behind it, the only way to have high poverty and inequality but also a high gdp per capita would be to have a very small population, in its simplest form consider an island with only two people on it. One is in absolute poverty, the other earns $100k, half the population is in poverty but the average income (we shall for the sake of argument equate total income of the individuals to GDP) gives a very high GDP per capita. The more people we add in poverty the higher that $100k needs to go.

toronto353 · 06-01-2017 00:56

I'd like to see trade rather than aid and the 0.7% of GDP target expanded to comprise public donations to foreign nations + Government spending combined rather than relate solely to Government spending, but I can live with this Bill as is so will probably vote Aye.

(Original post by RayApparently)
That said, I agree with my right honourable friend Aph that GDP per capita would be a more appropriate measure - even then it would not account of equality of wealth distribution. Those in poverty shouldn't suffer because their nation's elites are benefiting from a nominally high GDP.

Why is that our problem though? What you're effectively allowing for here is the rich in those country to get richer while we take care of their poor - surely that can't be acceptable?

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