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James Landale, the BBC’s diplomatic correspondent, says the government is planning to legislate to allow it to abandon the 0.7% of national wealth target for spending on overseas aid. It is no surprise that the government intends to abandon this target – Boris Johnson made no attempt to deny this when asked about it in the Commons last week – but it has been assumed that ministers would do so by using one of the loopholes in the Overseas Development (Official Development Assistance Target) Act that enshrines the 0.7% target in law. The legislation was passed in 2015 by the Conservative/Lib Dem coalition.
But, Landale says, it is now being argued that without legislating overriding the act, the government could be vulnerable to judicial review. He explains the situation in a Twitter thread starting here.
Excl: The BBC has learned the government is planning to pass new laws to cut Britain’s overseas aid budget, raising fears among MPs the reduction announced in tomorrow’s spending review could be permanent. 1/9
Boris Johnson is doing irreparable damage to the UK’s reputation, and reneging on our duty to the world’s poorest and most vulnerable – by threatening to break our legally binding international aid commitment.
The 0.7% aid target is a shared commitment across the four UK nations – and it must not be broken by Westminster against Scotland’s will. The SNP will resist Tory plans to cut international aid spending in the strongest terms.
One in five deaths in England and one in four in Wales in the second week of November involved Covid, according to the latest figures released by the Office for National Statistics.
There were 2,466 deaths with Covid-19 listed on the death certificate in the week to 13 November – an increase of 529 deaths compared with the previous week.
