Parliament must debate and vote on whether money spent on overseas aid should be given to the NHS following an opinion poll showing more than eight in ten people are in favour, an MP said.
Shipley MP Philip Davies said government needed to act given the strength of public opinion and the pressures facing the health service with an ageing population.
He said: “An opinion poll last week showed that 84 per cent of people want money diverted from the overseas aid budget to the NHS. Can we have a debate and a vote on this issue so we can see how out of touch this House is once again with the public opinion at large.”
Commons Leader Andrea Leadsom said International Development Secretary Penny Mordaunt was determined the generosity of the British people be put to best use.
Mrs Leadsom added: “She will be ever more demanding that we focus on those areas where other governments cannot begin to deal with themselves. It is very important to focus on the the UK’s generosity with aid in crisis to supporting the rights of women and girls and dealing with some of the very poorest in the world. It is the right balance that we should give to those that are far worse off than we are as well as increasing funding for our vital NHS.”
Mr Davies has repeatedly called some of the additional money being spent on overseas aid to be spent on NHS, adult social care, and other UK needs given the increase in spend year on year. It is one of the only departments not to see cuts with 0.7 per cent of GDP each year being given away. Mr Davies previously criticised the huge amounts of cash supposedly for overseas aid, being spent on consultancy fees.