The government has resurrected a controversial multimillion-pound aid scheme to train a civilian police force that was alleged to have given cash to extremists in Syria, the Guardian can reveal. “The foreign secretary must now set out clearly what steps his department takes to investigate when aid spending goes wrong. The UK government must end its obsession with contracting out its responsibilities in order to bolster big business profits. This doesn’t mean that we should reduce the aid budget, but it needs to be spent differently. That must be independent, and must command the trust of parliament – rather than just taking the foreign secretary at his word,” she said.

Source: The Guardian February 20, 2018 10:41 UTC