Mark

Tonnes of questions this morning about how the government's £2 bus fare cap will be funded The government says it will raise the bulk of the £454million needed from 'a reprioritisation of Desnz's Budget' It says that £400million will come from 'switching investment set aside for international climate finance to loans' - it cites the Tropical Forests Forever Facility The government had intended to give the money as grants. It will now give the money as a loan that the government says will be paid back But we don't know the terms of the loan. We don't know the interest rates of the loan. We don't know what the repayment schedule will be. There are bound to be questions about whether the money will be paid out at all In the meantime there is a risk that we are effectively spending the same money twice - once on capping bus fares, and again in the form of a loan, the terms of which are completely unknown Heidi Alexander said that the terms of the loans 'do need to be reasonably favourable' to developing nations. 'The precise detail that you're asking me about the nature of interest that would be applied to those loans I don't have' This interview with @SophyRidgeSky is well worth watching - a lot of detail to iron out