BRITISH taxes are being squandered on shrimp farms in Bangladesh, poetry workshops in Colombian jails and gender lectures in Kenya.

UK workers also fund diversity training in the Jordanian army and cyber security for India — while pressure mounts to raise our military budget and millions wait for an NHS appointment.

Britain spends around £15billion per year on overseas aid, £9billion of which is by the Foreign Office.

A recent US crackdown on its scandalous state waste has sparked demands for a UK version.

President Donald Trump hired ­billionaire Elon Musk to head up a Department of Government Efficiency and it has wasted no time shuttering aid, green and diversity, equity and inclusion projects at the stroke of a pen.

Now politicians and protesters want a similar purge here, with several online campaigns springing up to highlight shocking abuses around the world — all on the public dime.

Among the worst cases, the past three years have seen the UK hand more than £133,000 to Bangladesh Agricultural University to study shrimp health.

The most recent £59,000 payment from taxpayer-bankrolled quango the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture was made in September.

Taxpayers are also funding woke ideology around the war-torn Third World.

In January 2024 the Science Department paid £233,000 to “identifying barriers to mental healthcare for civilians affected by armed ­conflict in Colombia”.

Last December the Foreign Office paid a contractor £9.5million to support “accountability and inclusion” in war-ravaged Democratic Republic of the Congo.

The department also funded a £110,000 conference on “preventing gender-based disinformation” in Kenya, and £473,070 for a Criminal Justice Adviser in Somalia.

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A £30million budget has been set aside for “enhancing gender outcomes” in Nepal in a contract running until 2030.

The UK is under pressure to boost defence spending to 2.5 per cent of GDP — an extra £5billion a year — as Vladimir Putin’s forces gain ground in Ukraine and President Trump calls for Nato to increase spending to five per cent of GDP.

While Labour dithers on the UK increase, £500,000 was handed to a Directorate of Military Women’s Affairs in Jordan to support the “gender mainstreaming ­strategy” in its army.

The Foreign Office has also offered up £500,000 of taxpayer money to buy 15 electric vans being donated to Albanian prisons, secured through a local Porsche dealer.

The contract boasted the cars would help the Balkan state move “towards Net Zero and is part of a wider greening initiative”.

Officials have also earmarked £1.9million to create jobs in Albania to stop its citizens from leaving the country.

Former ­government adviser Jason Brown, who has launched The Waste Files campaign, blasted: “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.”

Brits are also paying through the nose for climate initiatives in foreign countries, including £114million for “inclusive green enterprises” in India.

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Campaigners have also exposed £25million for “Green Urban Growth” in Somalia, and £38million for “Green Growth” in Nepal.

Since 2023, the Environment Department has spent £4.1million on “championing inclusivity in plastic pollution” from a £310million budget.

Some £5million has gone to ­“transforming feminist funding in Iraq”, £264,000 to ­“better understand disinformation in Ethiopia” and £44,000 went to studying Thailand’s alcohol policy.

Charities receiving government funding have also been accused of milking taxpayers for woke enterprises.

They include the British Council, which this year is getting £162.5million from the Foreign Office — 15 per cent of its total income — under the guise of “Overseas Development Aid”.

Woke enterprises

The organisation recently trumpeted 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”.

Online sleuths have spent months studying ­contracts published on the Government website to expose waste.

Sir Keir Starmer has vowed to raise the military budget to 2.5 per cent of GDP but is yet to set out a timeline, amid fears it may not be hit before the election.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves is reportedly not prepared to go beyond 2.3 per cent in her spending review this year.

Downing Street sources last night dismissed speculation of ­tensions between the pair but no uplift is expected to be announced before summer.

Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds said yesterday: “The whole Cabinet, the whole Government, I think most people in this country recognise the pressures the world is under, and that more will have to be spent on defence.

“The spending review will set out the road map to that target.”

Expose waste

Nato’s chief — Dutchman Mark Rutte — has called on alliance members to go even further at three per cent.

To raise the money, campaigners are demanding a waste-cutting drive alongside cuts to the ballooning benefits bill.

In Opposition, Labour pledged to rein in profligate spending and even created an efficiency quango, the Office for Value for Money.

A Commons watchdog has since called it a waste of money itself, and the overseas contracts show no signs of ­abating.

Shadow Chancellor Mel Stride told The Sun: “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.”

He added: “The time for ­reckless spending is over.

“We need a government that prioritises value for money, not waste — and under new leadership only the Conservatives will deliver that.”

The time for ­reckless spending is over

Mel Stride

Former Asda chairman Lord Rose is among those who are demanding more efficiency.

He told Times Radio: “We need to cut some spending in some ­places to afford ­spending in other ­places whilst these growth initiatives start coming through. And that means welfare, that means waste, and that means the NHS.

“I read a proposal, should we have a Department of Government efficiency in the UK? Well, yes, please.”

It has been almost ten years since The Sun first exposed the UK’s mind-blowing foreign aid spending while our military was being cut to the bone.

Under the headline “Funding Nemo”, we revealed how taxpayer cash was being used finding mates for tropical fish off Africa – demanding money went to “forces not farces”.

Government spokesperson said: “The Spending Review will ensure that taxpayer money is focused on the Government’s Plan for Change across all departments – this includes secure borders and national security.

“Global challenges like conflict, the climate crisis and poverty directly affect British lives, and contribute to irregular migration – our development assistance contributes to a safer, more prosperous UK.”

Our military misses out

By JACK ELSOM

HERE are just four ways some of the overseas aid could have boosted our military:

• The £500,000 spent sending electric cars to Albania could have paid for 20 soldiers to start basic training.
• The £233,000 for researching “barriers to mental health” in Colombia could have funded six British Army Corporals.
• The £110,000 for a gender disinformation conference in Kenya could buy advanced armour for 100 troops.
• The £133,000 on studying shrimp health in Bangladesh could have bought six standard sniper rifles.

FOLKS, IT’S A WASTE

By CHARLOTTE GILL, Anti-waste campaigner

DID you know that YOU paid for following university research?

The Europe that Gay Porn Built, 1945-2000 (£841,830); Diversifying participation in English folk singing (£1,485,400) and Decolonising the Museum: Digital Repatriation of the Gaidinliu Collection from the UK to India (£805,769).

Does that sound like a good use of your wages?

Unfortunately this is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to government waste, something I have been auditing since 2023 on my online blog “Woke Waste”.

Far from Britain being subjected to “austerity”, politicians have been quietly haemorrhaging our money on everything from diversity initiatives to left-wing think tanks, to a student “decolonising” museums in Bolivia.

So far I have single-handedly calculated tens of millions of pounds of waste – and expect, with my team, to uncover billions in total.

Waitrose in ice kill ban

By ELEANOR GUNN

WAITROSE is refusing to sell prawns killed via a method called ice slurry suffocation.

The supermarket says the practice of dunking the crustaceans in freezing water causes them unnecessary suffering.

It is backing campaigners who argue it is often ineffective and the prawns suffer a prolonged death from asphyxiation.

Waitrose had already phased out eyestalk ablation, a method for getting the creatures to lay more eggs by crushing one or both of their eyes.

The store says it will now only stock prawns killed by electrical stunning, which is considered more humane.