UK's Boris Johnson faces binding vote on planned foreign aid cuts
13 July, 2021
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson faces a rebellion in Parliament from his Conservative Party over his government's plans to slash foreign aid by about £4 billion ($5.6bn).
Although he has a significant majority in the House of Commons, some Tory members of Parliament believe they have the numbers to defeat Mr Johnson on Tuesday and overturn his decision to cut international aid to 0.5 per cent of gross national income, from 0.7 per cent.
The government says the pandemic required extraordinary spending measures and that the books must be balanced, making the aid cut a painful but necessary step.
Opponents say the cut directly affects vulnerable women and children, something Mr Johnson has stated is a priority of his Group of Seven presidency this year.
“Every MP in the House of Commons stood on a very clear promise to stand by 0.7 per cent,” rebel leader and Conservative MP Andrew Mitchell said.
“What is being proposed may not return Britain to that commitment for decades to come.
“I am urging my colleagues to keep their promise and prevent hundreds of thousands of preventable deaths by voting against."
Anticipating a win by the rebels, the Treasury sought to attach conditions before the 0.7 per cent promise is honoured again.
It would only happen when the independent Office for Budget Responsibility’s fiscal forecast says that, “on a sustainable basis”, the UK is “not borrowing to finance day-to-day spending and underlying debt is falling", the Treasury said in on Monday.
On Monday evening Cabinet minister Jacob Rees-Mogg told the rebels they were risking “reasonable control" of public finances.
The Treasury says that last year the UK borrowed nearly £300bn, equal to 14.3 per cent of its gross domestic product and the highest since the Second World War.
Meanwhile debt as a percentage of GDP has reached nearly 100 per cent, the highest since 1962.
Source: www.thenationalnews.com
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