Former PM David Cameron driving ‘small lorry’ to Poland with supplies for Ukrainian refugees

Former prime minister David Cameron is driving to Poland with a lorry full of supplies for Ukrainian refugees in need of humanitarian aid.

Mr Cameron said on Friday evening that he was travelling with two colleagues from Chippy Larder, an Oxfordshire-based food project which helps low income families.

Through the project, he said donations had been taken in for Ukrainian refugees and they now had enough “to fill a small lorry with everything from nappies to sanitary products, warm clothes to first aid kits”.

Posting a photograph sitting behind the wheel of the lorry on Twitter, he said he is delivering items to the Red Cross and will update members of the public of his progress along the way.

Many areas across Poland have been transformed into refugee hubs over the past three weeks as the border country absorbs the majority of the more than three million refugees who have fled Ukraine.

Mr Cameron, who was West Oxfordshire's MP between 2001 and 2016, said he had been volunteering at Chippy Larder every week for the last two years.

"In the last fortnight we’ve appealed for the things that refugees from Ukraine need as they arrive in Poland. The response has been amazing," he said.

The former PM has previously been reported to have helped collect food parcels - which include non-perishables and fruit and vegetables - in order to personally deliver them to various locations.

Earlier this week, the former Conservative leader called for more humanitarian help to be given to Ukraine. Speaking to Channel 4 News, he called on the government to “get back” to dedicating 0.7% of gross national income to overseas aid, after it was cut to 0.5% last year.

Chancellor Rishi Sunak has promised to return the UK’s aid contributions to 0.7% by the end of this Parliament. But Mr Cameron said: “Let’s do more on humanitarian aid. We achieved 0.7% of GDP in our aid payments. I’m sad we’ve got away from that. I hope we can get back there. “Let’s – with the EU – lead the donor conference, lead the aid effort. “Let’s have a dedicated aid minister in the Cabinet doing development. “The Foreign Office ministers do a great job but it’d be good to have someone who’s 100% dedicated to humanitarian aid and development.”

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