UKIP on foreign aid

The Liberal Democrats have attacked plans by UKIP to slash foreign aid so it would account for only 0.2% of GDP. Tom Brake MP, Liberal Democrat Foreign Affairs spokesperson, said of Patrick O’Flynn’s announcement: “Patrick O’Flynn is widely considered to be Paul Nuttall’s brain. But this, to be charitable, is politics at its least thoughtful. “Ensuring that 0.7% of GDP is spent on foreign aid was a major achievement of Liberal Democrats in the coalition. It allowed us to vaccinate millions of children against ghastly diseases, stop humanitarian disasters and fight the horrific practice of Female Genital Mutilation. "UKIP would cheerfully see a child starve to death if it won them some cheap, snarling clip on the evening news.  “As the Conservatives move ever further to the right, UKIP are trying to sound ever more extreme to seem relevant. The Liberal Democrats are the very opposite of UKIP, campaigning to keep Britain open, tolerant and united.” Local Liberal Democrat Frank Little said: "I agree with everything that Tom Brake says, but believe that parliament should look closely at how that 0.7% has been used since Conservatives took full power in Westminster. It has been suggested that some of that  money which should have gone to people in the Third World who desperately need it has gone instead to financial institutions only nominally interested in humanitarian aid."