Michael Fallon: Use foreign aid to deter mass migration

The Defence Secretary says that foreign aid spending “should be used” to help prevent conflicts breaking out in African countries in order to prevent refugees fleeing to Europe.

Defence Secretary Michael Fallon's visit to HMS Ocean, Baltops (Baltic Operations), and the Baltic Air Policing mission
Defence Secretary Michael Fallon's visit to HMS Ocean, Baltops (Baltic Operations), and the Baltic Air Policing mission Credit: Photo: Jack Hill

Britain’s foreign aid budget must be used to “discourage mass migration”, the Defence Secretary has said.

Michael Fallon said that foreign aid spending “should be used” to help prevent conflicts breaking out in African countries in order to prevent refugees fleeing to Europe.

He said that it would stop the UK military having to “fish people out of the Mediterranean” when they try to escape from their home countries.

The comments are his strongest indication yet that he wants aid spending to be part of the defence budget, in a move that would help Britain to meet its 2 per cent Nato obligation

Defence officials are understood to be attempting to “recategorise” elements of the international development money so that it counts as defence spending.

The Government has repeatedly refused to pledge to spend 2 per cent of GDP on defence for the whole of this Parliament.

However, the Government is legally required to spend 0.7 per cent of GDP on foreign aid.

Mr Fallon used an article in The Sunday Telegraph to insist that Britain's Armed Forces are anything but "feeble".

Critics have said that treating some of the foreign aid budget as defence spending would simply allow the UK to mask deeper cuts in more essential parts of the defence budget while appearing to hit its 2 per cent obligation.

Speaking to the BBC’s Andrew Marr programme about the Mediterranean migrant crisis, which is seeing thousands of people attempting to cross dangerous stretches of sea on boats bound for Europe, Mr Fallon said: “We can pull the intelligence we all have as European countries on these trafficking gangs. We can get more information about the routes. We can tackle their financing.

“And we can use our overseas aid budget where it should be used – to help stabilise some of these countries and discourage this kind of mass-migration from them.”

He added: “Well-focussed aid should be used to help stabilise countries to prevent conflict breaking out, to discourage mass migration so that we don’t have to fish people out of the Mediterranean later on.”

Mr Fallon repeatedly refused to commit explicitly to continue spending 2 per cent of national income on defence.

Defence Secretary Michael Fallon

However, he dismissed criticism that the UK was withdrawing from the international stage.

He said that figures due out this week would confirm that the 2 per cent threshold is being met this year.

Pushed on whether spending would remain at that level, he replied: "I want us to fulfil our commitments.

"Our manifesto commitment was to spend more on equipment and I have described to you that we are modernising everything for the armed forces.

"It was also to replace our nuclear deterrent and it was also a commitment not to cut further the size of the regular army."

Challenged that he and other ministers were "weaving and dodging" on the issue, Mr Fallon said: "The reason is very simple - we can't set the budget on this programme.

"We will set the budget for the three years of the parliament in September and then you will have your answer. But we already have three very strong specific commitments in the manifesto.

"Look at the record. We are doing 2 per cent at the moment."