British aid to refugees smashes through £1BILLION as Cameron boasts UK is spending more than any EU country
UK has given a total of £920million in aid to Syrian refugees since 2011
Only the United States has given more to hep with the humanitarian effort
Cameron hits back at EU leaders who accused him of not doing enough
By Matt Chorley, Political Editor for MailOnline
Published: 05:24 EST, 4 September 2015 | Updated: 19:56 EST, 4 September 2015
David Cameron today announced Britain is increasing its aid for Syrian refugees to more than £1billion as he hit back at claims that he was refusing to act.
The Prime Minister pointed to figures showing that the UK has already given more than £920million to the humanitarian effort - more than Germany, Netherlands, France, Italy, Hungary, Austria and Poland combined.
He pledged an extra £100million, making it the UK's biggest ever response to a humanitarian crisis.
Only the United States has given more, with some of Mr Cameron's biggest critics in Europe giving a fraction of the funds from British taxpayers.
Only the United States has given more to the humanitarian effort in Syria since 2011 than the UK, according to the Financial Tracking Service
+4
Official figures show that since 2011, the UK has given £918million and pledged a further £1.5million in aid to deal with the impact of violence in Syria which has displaced millions of people.
The figure is much higher than the £633million paid by Germany, and dwarfs the likes of France (£70million), Spain (£21million) and Hungary (£485,000).
Today Mr Cameron went further to announce an increase in Britain's aid spending.
Speaking later in Madrid, the PM said that admitting refugees 'can only ever be part of the answer' to the migration crisis and that a comprehensive approach was needed, including using aid to alleviate suffering in the countries which migrants come from.
No other European country has come close to this level of support
Prime Minister David Cameron
'We are already the second-largest bilateral donor of aid to the Syrian conflict, and today I can announce that we will provide a further £100 million, taking our total contribution to over £1 billion,' said Mr Cameron.
'That is the UK's largest ever response to a humanitarian crisis. No other European country has come close to this level of support.
'£60 million of this additional funding will go to help Syrians still in Syria. The rest will go to neighbouring countries, to Turkey, Jordan and Lebanon, where Syrian refugees now account for one-quarter of the population.
'Britain's aid is supporting these camps. If we were not doing that, the numbers attempting the dangerous journey to Europe would be far, far higher.'
Read more:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3222250/How-Britain-given-aid-refugees-Germany-Netherlands-France-Italy-Hungary-Austria-Poland-COMBINED.html#ixzz3mHuIgVHXFollow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
