The foreign aid budget will be slashed next year, Dominic Raab has said, as a former Government law officer warned the cut would be unlawful unless approved by Parliament.
Setting out the reduction pushed through by Rishi Sunak in last year’s spending review, the Foreign Secretary confirmed that the target to spend 0.7 per cent of national income will be slashed to 0.5 per cent in 2021/22.
According to the figures released on Tuesday, the aid budget will now fall to £9.9bn, down from £13.9bn in 2019-20, the last year for which comparable data is publicly available.
The UK's foreign aid spending is already believed to have fallen significantly this year due to the impact of the pandemic on the economy.
In a written statement, Mr Raab said the reduced budget would lead to a “sharpening” of the Government’s focus on its “core priorities”, including climate change, coronavirus, girls’ education, science and research, humanitarian assistance and promoting trade.
He added that the move was necessary due to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the public finances, but pointed out the UK remained one of the world’s largest donors of overseas aid.
However, the decision to press ahead with the cut has reignited a Tory backbench rebellion, which is expected to come to a head in a Commons vote later this year.
Conservative rebels told The Daily Telegraph they expected ministers to bring forward legislation to enable the cut in late March or early April, adding that they were confident they had the numbers to inflict a Government defeat.
Andrew Mitchell, the former development secretary and ringleader of the group, added: “It seems unwise at the point when we are projecting Global Britain to go down this route and I’m far from sure that Parliament will agree to it.”
It came as a letter written by Lord Garnier, the former solicitor general, was leaked to the Evening Standard, in which he suggested the planned cut could not go ahead without a change in the law.
Under the 2015 International Development Act, ministers cannot intentionally plan to miss the 0.7 per cent target.
Asked about the letter while appearing before the Commons development committee, Mr Raab rejected suggestions the Government was “flouting” the legislation and added he would set out the next steps shortly.
He also insisted that ministers wanted to see the aid target return to 0.7 per cent as soon as possible, but was unable to set a time frame or the criteria that would be used by ministers.
"In the end, it requires a balanced assessment - a judgment call which is part art and part science,” he continued.
"But we have got to be confident that we have recovered from the fiscal battering that Covid has wreaked on the economy and the public finances."
In a statement issued afterwards, Sarah Champion, the Labour chair of the development committee, said: “It is deeply concerning that during a global pandemic, and on top of already drastic aid funding cuts due to the fall in GNI, there are further ODA reductions on the horizon.
“If these cuts are rushed through, inevitably poor decisions will result. The Government should be open about the approach it is taking to these reductions so that we can scrutinise the process and criteria and be reassured that recipients and the UK taxpayer will see the best possible value for money from the remaining spend on aid."
Mr Raab also told MPs that he believed that cancelling the debt of developing nations to help them recover from the pandemic should be considered, adding that he had spoken with World Bank president David Malpass about the issue.
"I think that's got to be part of the conversation about recovering and building back better, stronger, because for some of those countries they don't have a chance without that," he said.
"I'm a big fan of trading your way to middle income status and the rest of it but without a bedrock level of economic capacity, which you won't (have) if you're in a debt trap, I think it's very, very difficult."
The Telegraph
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