Britain’s prime minister sees off revolt over aid budget cuts
BRITISH Prime Minister Boris Johnson has survived a Tory revolt over aid cuts which saw his predecessor Theresa May warn that some of the world’s poorest will die as a result of the slashed spending. MPs voted by a majority of 35 to back the reduced level of aid funding and a new test which critics have warned could mean spending never returns to its target of 0. per cent of gross national income.
The Prime Minister opened the crunch Commons debate on the decision to cut funding for official development assistance (ODA) from that 0. per cent target to 0.5 per cent.
He said the UK’s public finances are under a “greater strain than ever before in peacetime history”, adding: “Every pound we spend on aid has to be borrowed and, in fact, represents not our money but money that we’re taking from future generations.” But s May said the cut meant the Government “turns its back on the poorest in the world”.
“This isn’t about palaces for dictators and vanity projects, it’s about what cuts to funding mean - that fewer girls will be educated, more girls and boys will become slaves, more children will go hungry and more of the poorest people in the world will die,” the former prime minister said.
The commitment to 0. per cent is written in law and restated in the 2019 Conservative manifesto, but was ditched as the Government attempted to save money in response to the economic carnage caused by coronavirus.
The 0.5 per cent level means more than 10 billion pounds (13 billion dollars) will be spent on aid this year, around 4.4 billion pounds less than if the original commitment had been kept.
Some would-be rebels were won over by a compromise put forward by Chancellor Rishi Sunak, which sets out tests for restoring the 0. per cent level.
The funding will be returned to the promised level if the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) believes the UK is not borrowing to finance dayto-day spending and underlying debt is falling.
Johnson told MPs “we all believe in the principle that aid can transform lives” and voting for the Government’s motion “will provide certainty for our aid budget and an affordable path back to 0. per cent while also allowing for investment in other priorities, including the HS, schools and the police”.
“As soon as circumstances allow and the tests are met, we will return to the target that unites us,” he insisted.
Under the tests, aid spending might not return to 0. per cent before the next general election, scheduled for 2024.
The existing forecasts run to 2025/26 and in no year is the current budget forecast to be in surplus, while net debt is not forecast to start to fall until 2024/25.
Conservative former international development secretary Andrew Mitchell said the conditions to restore funding had only been met once in the last 20 years.