MANCHESTER, United Kingdom – Chancellor George Osborne has categorically ruled out cutting Britain’s huge foreign aid budget, while also backing expensive new infrastructure projects as he tries to reduce Britain’s deficit.
In his speech to the Conservative Party Conference in Manchester, the Chancellor admitted Britain is “still spending more as a country than we raise”, pledging that the government will in future run a budget surplus.
However, he listed various areas where he was not prepared to make any savings, the most controversial of which is foreign aid. In June, Breitbart London reported how the Department for International Development (DfID) is so swamped with money that it “dumped” £500 million on a controversial Swiss-based fund in order to meet its spending target.
The Chancellor said today, however: “Some people question our commitment to the aid budget but with millions fleeing warzones, and a crisis in Europe, I’m not prepared to cut it.”
He also spoke of his pride in the “National Living Wage” – a large hike in Britain’s minimum wage that some small business owners have warned could force them to lay off staff.
“You know the National Living Wage is something that should be welcomed across the political divide,” he said.
Osborne also gave his backing to the controversial “High Speed 2” project to build a new rail link between London and Birmingham, and even talked of a “High Speed 3” rail link in northern England.
Earlier this year, a House of Lords report suggested High Speed 2 will be nine times more expensive than its French equivalent, with costs estimated at £50 billion. The report also said the government had to answer questions regarding the benefits the project would really bring the country, and whether it will actually do anything to reduce over crowding.
“Parliament should not approve the enabling legislation that will allow HS2 work to begin until we have satisfactory answers to these key questions,” it said.
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