Well... jobs for one. We need jobs. And exports of course. And selling our expertise as well as actual goods... there's a long list. I'm sure they rarely throw money at projects that are not likely to get off the ground. That said, you can't make an omelette without breaking eggs.

"The Department for Work and Pensions has spent £700 million on Universal Credit since the programme began in 2010. However, very little progress has been achieved on the front line. Fewer than 18,000 people were claiming Universal Credit by October 2014, out of around seven million expected in the longer term – just 0.3% of the eligible population.

We hope the Department’s expectation that this number will rise significantly by February 2016 proves to be accurate.

As the Department has justified this spending on the promise of benefits in the future – such as from higher employment - rather than on the actual delivery of benefits to date, we simply cannot judge the value for money of this expenditure at this stage.

The IT infrastructure for Universal Credit continues to be of particular concern. The Department has spent £344 million with suppliers developing its 'live' service systems for claimants who have straightforward initial claims which do not involve all 6 benefits, yet it expects to re-use just £34 million worth of this IT in the longer term.


http://www.parliament.uk/business/co...ogress-update/


As we can see they are very good at wasting money... too good. penny wise and pound foolish as my dad would say.

Thinking about jobs and exports is very premature.

That's as irrelevant to this discussion as the talk of foreign aid. And it seems it's only you, Kizzy, who thinks that for some reason this money should not have been used for this purpose. As for thinking of jobs and exports being premature, well, it's all about investment and forward planning.

You said they rarely threw money at projects..... I posted an example of just that.
I stand by the fact that during this time of austerity gifting 60 million of taxpayers money is not wise.
Again the dream that this will ever fly is more pie in the sky than forward planning

Perhaps you'd rather some other country invested in it and we buy the technology from them at retail rates.

Investing in the future is not "gifting" anyone anything.

of a £220 million requirement for phase 3 of a project, we put in £60 million.
There is no end product/ technology guaranteed, it's simply a punt on a concept at this stage.

650 million given to India each year when they have their own space program and don't need the cash makes me uncomfortable. That amount would really benefit the NHS.