Britain sends almost £18MILLION in foreign aid to 42-inhabitant Mutiny on Bounty island – £426,000 for EACH islander!
The amount of British taxpayer's cash going to the island has come under scrutiny as the Government is urged to look again at foreign aid spending
MORE than £400,000 each in foreign aid has been paid from the Treasury's coffers to the 42 inhabitants of a tiny Pacific island in the last six years - but they don't pay a penny back in tax.
The UK taxpayer has stumped up the cash for those who live on Pitcairn Island - which works out at around £17.9million - since 2011, with this year's payout set to reach almost £3.5million alone.
The costs are covered by the overseas aid department, Dfid, providing locals with a doctor, nurse, policeman and teacher.
The islanders of the British overseas territory, who receive a government wage or pension paid for by the UK, are descendants of sailors who took part in the Mutiny on the Bounty in 1790.
They are also eligible to receive child benefit but pay no tax.
Pitcairn was colonised by nine mutinous sailors from the crew of the Bounty led by Fletcher Christian.
They arrived from Tahiti along with 18 Polynesians.
Their story has been retold a number of times on the silver screen, including in the 1962 film Mutiny on the Bounty starring Marlon Brando and Trevor Howard.
It is one of 14 British overseas territories where inhabitants have the right to British citizenship and the Government is legally obliged to ensure their wellbeing.
After joining the British Empire in 1838, the overseas territory supported itself through the sale of stamps and coins, but the UK stepped in when interest in collecting declined.
In recent years the British Government has come under renewed pressure to review its foreign aid spend.
Alex Wild of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, told MailOnline: "Pitcairn is clearly a special case. But as with every spending decision, it is crucial that the money sent out is proportionate to need and spent efficiently."
Since 2004 a social worker has been paid for on the island, which is less than three miles wide, after a sex scandal was exposed involving six men, including the former mayor, being charged with the rape of children as young as seven.
A well-equipped health centre has been built but islanders with serious medical problems are evacuated by sea and air to New Zealand at a cost of around £30,000 a time. Treatment is paid for either by a government loan or grant.
A ferry, which costs £1.2million a year to run, makes four annual trips to New Zealand, with voyages lasting 12 days each way.
A Dfid spokesman added:"The UK Government has international legal obligations to support the British people on Pitcairn Islands."
Pitcairn IslandColonised by mutineers, plagued by child sex scandals: The troubled history of Pitcairn island
THE islanders are descendants of sailors who took part in the Mutiny on the Bounty in 1790.
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