Ministers have won the backing of 14 Tory MPs who were threatening to oppose cuts to Britain’s aid budget before a critical Commons vote today.
The backbenchers have written to their colleagues urging them to back a government plan to reinstate the aid budget of 0.7 per cent of GDP once borrowing is brought under control.
Ministers are increasingly confident that they will win the vote despite opposition from figures such as Andrew Mitchell, the former international development secretary, who wants the target to be reinstated as soon as possible.
Alok Sharma, Boris Johnson’s international climate change envoy, has also privately criticised the proposal, warning that it will damage Britain’s attempts to agree an ambitious global warming deal at November’s Cop26 conference.
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