Libya - the failed state the UK helped to make

The UK he Department for International Development has earmarked just £50,000 in aid [for an adviser] for this financial year, despite international calls for an urgent response, to avoid food and medicine stocks running out. The UK spent 13 times more bombing the country  (£320m) than in reconstruction efforts in the four years after that.

Martin Kobler, the UN special envoy to Libya, told the security council last month: “The situation in Libya has deteriorated further, against the background of poor funding for the humanitarian response.”

Libya has a population of six million and significant resources, but an estimated 2.4 million Libyans are in need of humanitarian aid, with almost half of the country’s health facilities not functioning.

Obama said last month that Libya had been allowed to become a “shit show” and a base for Islamic State. He singled out Cameron for taking his “eye off the ball”, and said that following the military intervention to aid rebels during the 2011 Arab spring, Libya was forgotten, despite its position on Europe’s doorstep.

Efraim Halevy, a former Israeli intelligence chief, said Libya was Cameron’s “biggest mistake” and was about to be the “biggest problem for Europe in the months to come”.

SNP MP Stephen Gethins, a member of the foreign affairs select committee, said: “David Cameron has been widely condemned for helping create yet another failed state. A disaster is unfolding in Libya, not least due to the UK’s actions. The UK must now step up and provide adequate humanitarian assistance to a country which desperately needs it.”