Johnson defies Tory rebels to win aid cut vote
Boris Johnson was has been warned “more of the poorest will die” as the UK government survived a rebellion over the cuts to overseas aid.
All six Scottish Conservative MPS, including the party leader Douglas Ross, backed the government vote – a move which Ruth Davidson, the former Scottish Tory leader, described as a "bloody disgrace".
Ms Davidson, who is due to sit in the Lords for the Tories, tweeted: "Not big enough. For colleagues who stood on manifesto after manifesto committed to this, it's a bloody disgrace."
Former prime minister Theresa May was among the Tory rebels.
Boris Johnson was has been warned “more of the poorest will die” as the UK government survived a rebellion over the cuts to overseas aid.
The Prime Minister was confronted over the controversial move as he insisted to MPS it was necessary to protect the nation’s finances.
Spending 0.7 per cent of GDP was written in law and was restated in the 2019 Conservative manifesto, only to be abandoned by the UK g overnment due to coronavirus.
Chancellor Rishi Sunak then set out a test to restore it as a “compromise” if the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) believed the UK was not borrowing to finance day-to-day spending and underlying debt is falling.
The UK g overnment won 333 to 298 after a vote in the Commons yesterday.
All six Scottish Conservative MPS, including the party leader Douglas Ross, backed the government vote which Ruth Davidson, the former Scottish Tory leader, described as a "bloody disgrace".
Ms Davidson, who is due to sit in the Lords for the Tories, tweeted: "Not big enough. For colleagues' who stood on manifesto after manifesto committedtothis,it'sabloodydisgrace."
Earlier Theresa May revealed she would rebel for the first time, telling MPS the cut meant the government “turns its back on the poorest in the world”.
The former pr ime M inister said: “This isn’t about palaces fordictatorsandvanityprojects, it’s about what cuts to funding mean – that fewer girls will be educated, more girls and boys will become slaves, more childrenwillgohungryandmoreof the poorest people in the world will die.
"We made a promise to the poorest people in the world, thegovernmenthasbrokenthat promise. This motion means that promise may be broken for years to come."
Having only happened once in the decades prior, the Tory rebels described it as a “trap” to keep the cut.
Tory MP Andrew Mitchell claimed the plan put forward by the Treasury was “no compromiseatall”butinstead“afiscal trap for the unwary”.
He warned that the Government was “trashing our international reputation” and the measure would have an “enormous impact on our role in the world and above all on the huge number of people who will be very severely damaged, maimed, often blinded and, indeed, die as a result of these cuts”.
Mr Mitchell added: “Anyone who thinks this is not affecting our party’s reputation is living in cloud cuckoo land. There is an unpleasant odour wafting out from under my party’s front door.”
The SNP International Development
spokesperson Chris Law MP claimed the cuts showed "Scotland's values are increasingly under attack at Westminster".
He added: "Scotland completelyrejectstorycutstointernational aid, which go against our values and will push some of the poorest and most vulnerable people in the world even further into hardship.
"Itisshamefulthatborisjohnsonispressingaheadwiththese cuts. Not only is he breaking his own Tory manifesto commitment, and riding roughshod over the UK'S moral and legal responsibilities, but he is doing it at the worst possible time - during a global pandemic."