British taxpayers are funding shrimp farms 5000 miles away in Bangladesh as well as electric Porsches for Albanian jails and gender lectures in Kenya.
The revelations follow mounting pressure to raise defence spending while Vladimir Putin’s forces gain ground in Ukraine and as Britain continues to dish out around £15billion per year on overseas aid.
Figures published by The Sun show the past three years have seen the UK hand more than £133,000 to Bangladesh Agricultural University to study shrimp health, with the most recent payment made in September.
Beyond this, in January 2024 the Science Department paid £233,000 to ‘identifying barriers to mental healthcare for civilians affected by armed conflict in Colombia’.
And last December the Foreign Office paid a contractor £9.5million to support ‘accountability and inclusion’ in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Other spending escapades include up to £500,000 of taxpayer money going towards 15 electric vans for Albanian prisons, secured through a local Porsche dealer, and the same amount to support the ‘gender mainstreaming strategy’ in the Jordanian army.
Further initiatives have been promoted in India with £114million set aside for ‘inclusive green enterprises’.
Opponents also note the £25million for ‘Green Urban Growth’ in Somalia, and £38million for ‘Green Growth’ in Nepal.
Some £5million has gone to ‘transforming feminist funding in Iraq’ while £264,000 went to ‘better understand disinformation in Ethiopia’ and £44,000 to studying Thailand’s alcohol policy.
The spending has been branded ‘reckless’, with former government adviser Jason Brown, who launched The Waste Files campaign, saying: ‘With taxes at eye-watering levels and hard-working families struggling to make ends meet, Brits up and down the country will be astonished that their hard-earned money is being spent on sending electric cars to prisons in Albania.’
The comments come as officials have also earmarked £1.9million to create jobs in Albania to stop its citizens from leaving the country.
Conservative Shadow Chancellor Mel Stride added: ‘Given the Chancellor’s disastrous Budget, it’s clear that we must urgently rein in these pointless and eye-watering spending projects to stop further tax rises on hard-working families.
‘The time for reckless spending is over.’
The British Council has also been criticised as this year it is getting £162.5million from the Foreign Office — 15 per cent of its total income — as part of its ‘Overseas Development Aid’.
It comes as the organisation recently celebrated its funding for a ‘performance poet’ who ‘uses poetry to explore what it means to be human . . . from workshops in Colombian prisons to performances in a Bangkok mall’.
A government spokesman has insisted the UK’s upcoming Spending Review will ensure taxpayer money is focused on the ‘Government’s Plan for Change across all departments’ including secure borders and national security.
They added ‘global challenges like conflict, the climate crisis and poverty directly affect British lives, and contribute to irregular migration’.
A recent US crackdown on state spending has sparked demands for a similar programme in the UK after Donald Trump slashed foreign aid and drew a line under diversity, equity and inclusion projects.