£2bn of British aid to help Third World go green

[-:Undertaker:-]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/env...-go-green.html

£2bn of UK aid to help Third World go green

Britain yesterday pledged almost £2 billion in “climate aid” to help finance foreign projects including wind turbines in Africa and greener cattle farming in Colombia.

Around £15 million of UK aid will go to help cattle farmers practise 'low carbon agriculture' in Colombia

Each household will contribute £70 to schemes to tackle climate change in developing countries before March 2015, under plans championed by Ed Davey, the Liberal Democrat Energy Secretary.

Conservative MPs were furious last night at the scale of the bill, which was unveiled as George Osborne prepares to announce a series of tax rises and spending cuts in today’s Autumn Statement.

Lord Lawson of Blaby, a former Chancellor, also criticised the “appalling waste of money” at a time when household budgets are already squeezed.

Senior Conservatives were also dismayed at the timing of the announcement, but Nick Clegg, the Deputy Prime Minister, hailed the cash as “fantastic news”.

The disclosure is sure to provoke anger among hard-pressed families, who increasingly see foreign aid and green energy as among the lowest priorities for Government spending in the current financial climate.

Mr Davey gave the commitment as he arrived at United Nations climate change talks in Doha, Qatar, making Britain the first G7 country to make such a pledge.

At a party at the British Embassy, ministers gave details of £150 million in new projects as part of Britain’s £1.8 billion in “climate aid” for poorer countries within three years – the equivalent of £70 per household.

Mr Davey said the money should be spent because “climate change is a global threat and with every passing year, the nature and the extent of that threat grows clearer”.

“We also recognise that the world’s poorest will be hit the hardest by the impacts of climate change, and we need to help communities adapt to these challenges,” he added.

The UK’s package of support includes almost £100 million to help to subsidise renewable energy in Africa, such as electricity produced from wind and solar farms.

Around £15 million will go to help cattle farmers practise “low carbon agriculture” in Colombia and £14 million will help build wind farms and other renewables in Uganda.

The spending has angered a number of Tory back-bench MPs who are already up in arms about the scale of Britain’s aid spending and expensive renewable energy at a time of rising bills.

Jacob Rees-Mogg, a Conservative MP for North East Somerset, said the spending was “an absolutely classic example of waste” that should be stopped at a time of austerity.

“All I can say is a fool and his money are soon parted,” he said. “But it’s the British taxpayer having to pay for this absurd expenditure. We know wind farms are all but useless and nobody wants them in England, let alone Africa.”

Glyn Davies, a Conservative MP for Montgomeryshire, also criticised the level of climate aid spending. “This can’t be the priority for spending when the Coalition government is trying to create jobs and reduce the cost of living,” he said.

“It seems difficult to understand how we can justify this when energy is a huge cost for so many of our households and businesses.”

Peter Bone, Conservative MP for Wellingborough, said he thought the spending was “absolutely crazy” at a time when public services were being cut.

Their view was not shared by charities and green groups, which congratulated Mr Davey for making Britain the first of the G7 nations to make a firm commitment on climate change.

Tracy Carty, a climate change adviser for Oxfam, said: “At last, a developed country has finally made a pledge for future climate finance here in Doha. The UK has taken a step forward.”

Ruth Davis, a campaigner for Greenpeace, said Mr Davey deserved “credit where credit is due” for putting “real money” against Britain’s commitment to help countries hit by climate change.

Rich countries have signed up to increase their climate aid by 10-fold to around £60 billion per year by 2020. However, many governments of developed countries, including Japan and the US, are yet to set out their official plans for giving more money from next year.

“We do need to see more pledges,” Mr Davey said yesterday in Doha.

Greg Barker, a Tory minister, spoke out in defence of wind farms yesterday, saying they can be “wonderful” and “majestic” despite complaints that they blight the landscape.

He said that some in his own constituency were “almost a tourist attraction”.

I'm just going to post some of my favourite and best rated comments under the article because i'm frankly lost for words, just when you thought it couldn't get crazier... it does.

The more I hear of this sort of crap, the more attractive a vote for UKIP becomes.

You just could not make it up.
The idiots in Westminster are taxing us to the hilt and adding to our debt to give £10 billion a year to developing countries.
The sooner liblabcon are kicked out the better, they use and abuse the electorate.

tell you what, why dont we make the rich MP's who vote for this pay 90% of their income towards it, as they think its such a wonderful idea to borrow money to throw away to other countries.

No takers? Gee, I wonder why....

THIS IS MADNESS.

Cameron, Osborne & Clegg,

Are you not aware we are adding to our debt at 130 billion a year with interest extra.

Where do you think the money is EVER going to come from to pay off the debt.

The UK is bankrupt and STILL we borrow ever more to give away abroad.

Austerity has not even started at home yet.

Our fuel bill is 75 a month, our car fuel 270, just to get to and
from our jobs in a rural area (Cornwall). Our rent is 625, my council
tax 85, car insurance 45, household contents insurance 16.

Our net wages are 1,550, how do these fools expect me to cope? After
these costs of 889 we have 600 to car fuel for shopping etc. food for
three, fares to and from college for our 16 years old and neither of us
can afford to save for a pension.

!!! I hope Dead Head Davey is proud of himself !!!

Can you imagine wind turbines being serviced in Africa. Body parts all over the place, no electricity and their only use as housing for the locals.

I remember the Gambia who used to receive a lot of aid from the EU. All up and down the country there were brand new lorries and trucks, JCB's bulldozers etc abandoned because when the oil ran out the engines seized.

I remember one day watching them dismantling a 2 megawatt generator which had been given to them by the Swedish.

I watched them drop the crank shaft into the sand and asked what they were doing. We are learning how to repair it I was told. When they started to put the crankshaft back I told them if they did not clean the sand of it thoroughly it would run for about five minutes and then never again.

However, after sweeping it with a broom they put it back together, started it and it shrieked its head off for about 2 minutes, when there was an almighty bang and the crankshaft went into about four pieces.

When I left Gambia (having paid all the bungs to get out of the country alive) the generator was still where it had been left.

This cost the EU or the Swedes over 2 million pounds and it didn't produce enough power in its life to electrocute a fly.

The amount of money the EU plowed into the Gambia was horrifying and none did any good at all.

..oh and in the article, the Conservative MPs talk up a good story (as they usually do), but the vast majority of them tend to vote most of the time with the main party, the Labour Party and the Liberal Democrats. When are we going to have some sanity?

Essentially; borrow money to give away. Do the idiots running this country believe water runs uphill too?

Thoughts on this lunacy?

[-:Undertaker:-]

Just found out I was wrong, apparently (the government says) that by pissing this £2bn up the wall, it'll save our (British) lives; http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/env...-Minister.html

Well who'dda thunk it?

Most of this money (if not all) will end up on semtex, AK-47's and limos.

[Ardemax]

Tbh I don't care if half the UK work force is made redundant, as long as the Africans get their wind turbines.