The vote on the cut to the foreign aid budget, which Jacob Rees-Mogg has just announced in the Commons, will be tight. The government has said that it plans to return to its manifesto commitment of 0.7 per cent but only when the Office for Budget Responsibility’s forecasts show the UK is no longer borrowing for day-to-day spending and the debt is in decline. But that may not be enough to edge it given that the rebels want it restored when the economy returns to pre-pandemic levels, which will come much sooner.
Reducing the aid budget from 0.7 per cent of GDP to 0.5 per cent is a rare example of a spending cut that voters support
The government’s majority of 80 will be put under more pressure than it has been at any point in this parliament — with Labour, the SNP and the Liberal Democrats all planning to join with the Tory rebels.
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