Bill Gates has voiced his disappointment at the UK's autumn budget after Chancellor Rachel Reeves failed to increase foreign aid funding to cover the cost of housing refugees.
Ms Reeves conceded that there was little prospect of foreign aid spending returning to 0.7 per cent of the UK's national income during the next five years, a target abolished in 2021. The department she leads acknowledged that much of its aid budget was being diverted to accommodate asylum seekers in the UK.
Campaigners were left disheartened after Ms Reeves announced no new funding to cover continuing asylum costs. The previous government topped up the aid budget by £2.5 billion ($3.25 billion) in 2022 because of the number of refugees arriving from Afghanistan and Ukraine.
Mr Gates, the American businessman and philanthropist, called the autumn budget a “disappointing outcome for the world’s most vulnerable people”, according to the BBC. Gideon Rabinowitz, a director of civil society network Bond, said it amounted to a “short-sighted decision”.
Mr Rabinowitz said: “By refusing to renew the top-ups made by the previous government to offset the rising costs of housing asylum seekers in the UK, aid will plummet this year. We must support asylum seekers, but funding should come from a dedicated budget.”
Treasury documents said spending the foreign aid budget on housing refugees in the UK was in line with international guidance, but has had “significant implications” for overseas development spending.
The Labour government has promised to tackle the hot-button issue of asylum seekers crossing the English Channel on small boats. The Home Office has been promised more than £800 million ($1.04 billion), saved by scrapping a Conservative plan to deport failed asylum seekers to Rwanda. The Labour government is setting up a new border security command to tackle people smuggling.
“The government is committed to ensuring that asylum costs fall, has taken measures to reduce the asylum backlog and is ending the use of expensive hotel accommodation,” the Treasury said. “These plans should create more space in the [foreign aid] budget to spend on our international development priorities overseas.”
Labour says it wants to restore foreign aid spending to 0.7 per cent of national income “as soon as the fiscal circumstances allow” but Ms Reeves's autumn budget papers say fiscal tests introduced by the Conservatives are not due to be met within the current five-year parliament. The figure was 0.58 per cent last year.
Defending her budget to broadcasters on Wednesday, Ms Reeves conceded that her tax increases might limit pay rises but said she had no alternative because of a "black hole in the public finances". She called it a "budget to the slate clean after the mismanagement and the cover-up of the previous government".
Sarah Champion, a Labour member of parliament who chairs the House of Commons development committee, said the aid announcements were only a “nod in the right direction”. She said the government had adopted “unachievable fiscal rules regarding foreign aid spend” from the Conservatives.
“While I’m relieved the government has recognised the foreign aid budget must be protected from paying the Home Office costs of housing asylum seekers, it should have been more ambitious in addressing this,” she said. “For too long, the Home Office has been given a blank cheque to a budget already victim to significant cuts.”
Zayed Sustainability Prize
The Pope's itinerary
Sunday, February 3, 2019 - Rome to Abu Dhabi
1pm: departure by plane from Rome / Fiumicino to Abu Dhabi
10pm: arrival at Abu Dhabi Presidential Airport
Monday, February 4
12pm: welcome ceremony at the main entrance of the Presidential Palace
12.20pm: visit Abu Dhabi Crown Prince at Presidential Palace
5pm: private meeting with Muslim Council of Elders at Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque
6.10pm: Inter-religious in the Founder's Memorial
Tuesday, February 5 - Abu Dhabi to Rome
9.15am: private visit to undisclosed cathedral
10.30am: public mass at Zayed Sports City – with a homily by Pope Francis
12.40pm: farewell at Abu Dhabi Presidential Airport
1pm: departure by plane to Rome
5pm: arrival at the Rome / Ciampino International Airport
Transgender report
WHAT IS GRAPHENE?
It was discovered in 2004, when Russian-born Manchester scientists Andrei Geim and Kostya Novoselov were experimenting with sticky tape and graphite, the material used as lead in pencils.
Placing the tape on the graphite and peeling it, they managed to rip off thin flakes of carbon. In the beginning they got flakes consisting of many layers of graphene. But when they repeated the process many times, the flakes got thinner.
By separating the graphite fragments repeatedly, they managed to create flakes that were just one atom thick. Their experiment led to graphene being isolated for the very first time.
In 2010, Geim and Novoselov were awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics.
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- 600-seat auditorium
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- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
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The national orchestra
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The burning issue
The internal combustion engine is facing a watershed moment – major manufacturer Volvo is to stop producing petroleum-powered vehicles by 2021 and countries in Europe, including the UK, have vowed to ban their sale before 2040. The National takes a look at the story of one of the most successful technologies of the last 100 years and how it has impacted life in the UAE.
Read part four: an affection for classic cars lives on
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Read part two: how climate change drove the race for an alternative
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Jetour T1 specs
Engine: 2-litre turbocharged
Power: 254hp
Torque: 390Nm
Price: From Dh126,000
Available: Now
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The burning issue
The internal combustion engine is facing a watershed moment – major manufacturer Volvo is to stop producing petroleum-powered vehicles by 2021 and countries in Europe, including the UK, have vowed to ban their sale before 2040. The National takes a look at the story of one of the most successful technologies of the last 100 years and how it has impacted life in the UAE.
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Read part one: how cars came to the UAE
The Settlers
Director: Louis Theroux
Starring: Daniella Weiss, Ari Abramowitz
Rating: 5/5
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PROFILE OF SWVL
Started: April 2017
Founders: Mostafa Kandil, Ahmed Sabbah and Mahmoud Nouh
Based: Cairo, Egypt
Sector: transport
Size: 450 employees
Investment: approximately $80 million
Investors include: Dubai’s Beco Capital, US’s Endeavor Catalyst, China’s MSA, Egypt’s Sawari Ventures, Sweden’s Vostok New Ventures, Property Finder CEO Michael Lahyani
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Safety 'top priority' for rival hyperloop company
The chief operating officer of Hyperloop Transportation Technologies, Andres de Leon, said his company's hyperloop technology is “ready” and safe.
He said the company prioritised safety throughout its development and, last year, Munich Re, one of the world's largest reinsurance companies, announced it was ready to insure their technology.
“Our levitation, propulsion, and vacuum technology have all been developed [...] over several decades and have been deployed and tested at full scale,” he said in a statement to The National.
“Only once the system has been certified and approved will it move people,” he said.
HyperloopTT has begun designing and engineering processes for its Abu Dhabi projects and hopes to break ground soon.
With no delivery date yet announced, Mr de Leon said timelines had to be considered carefully, as government approval, permits, and regulations could create necessary delays.
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Engine: 3.0-litre V6
Transmission: Seven-speed automatic
Power: 335hp @ 5,000rpm
Torque: 500Nm @ 1,370rpm
Fuel economy 5.9L / 100km
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