Nigel Farage says the UK should not be “giving a penny” in foreign aid to India if it has the resources to land on the Moon’s surface.
The Chandrayaan-3 rocket made history on Wednesday when it became the first vehicle to land on the Moon’s south pole. It is a location where little is known.
It also made India, the world’s largest populous country, the fourth country to land a vehicle on the Moon. With the United States, China, and Russia having already done so.
Nigel Farage has called for the government to stop sending foreign aid to India. The Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office is estimated to have sent £33.4 million to India in 2022/23.
This is expected to grow to £57 million in 2024/25. Speaking on GB News, Farage said: “India managed to land a probe on the Moon on the south pole of the Moon, no other country has ever managed to achieve this before.
“Prime Minister Narendra Modi said this is a ‘great victor for new India’, talking about loads more investment going into the science sector. Well good for India.
“As they spend their money on space probes, as they spend their money on the military, on nuclear weapons, still half of their country lives below the poverty line. The biggest injustice of all is that between 2016 and 2021, we at the United Kingdom gave £2.3 billion of foreign aid to India.
“Our contribution next year is going up 70%. I’m going to put it to you folks that I don’t think we should be giving a penny of your money in foreign aid to a country that has enough resources to land on the Moon.”