UK calls for G8 financial aid for 'Arab Spring'

The UK is giving £110m over four years for political and economic development in North Africa and the Middle East.

At the two-day G8 summit in France, the UK and US are pushing for other pledges of financial support.

Mr Cameron said the summit should send a message to the countries of the Arab Spring that "we are on your side".

The £110m from the UK will come out of the existing Department for International Development budget.

The money constitutes the UK's contribution to calls for the G8 group of leading industrialised nations to do all they can to encourage the so-called Arab Spring.