Tories bait Russian bear at conference
Shadow development secretary Andrew Mitchell says Tory government would halt aid to Russia
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Thursday, 08, Oct 2009 01:39
By inthenews.co.uk staff.
Development aid sent from the UK to Russia is wrong and would be stopped by a Conservative government, the shadow development secretary announced today.
Andrew Mitchell told the party's conference in Manchester a strategy of giving aid to a country with a GDP of more than a trillion dollars was "simply ridiculous".
He explained that the Tories would give the same money to poorer countries instead.
"This misuse of our aid budget is an insult to our taxpayers and it must come to an end. This is not what the hard-pressed British taxpayer signed up for," he said.
Mr Mitchell pointed out Labour is giving aid to more than 100 different countries and that "too many of these are the wrong countries".
"Under a Conservative government, that will change," he added. "We will only give aid to the countries that really need it."
The move marks a pattern of reassessments concerning the way Labour has chosen to give aid. Last year, Mr Mitchell announced that the Tories would end aid to China.
But the pledge is likely to upset relations with Russia, which receives short shrift from the Conservatives.
Earlier this week shadow defence secretary Liam Fox told a fringe meeting that Russian was acting like "gangster state".