Thank you for contacting me about the Government’s proposed 0.2% cut to UK overseas aid. As someone who has had the privilege of seeing the good that our aid budget does for the health and education of the world’s most vulnerable, I have grave concerns about the impact such cuts could have on the world’s extremely poor, particularly during the fallout of the current global pandemic.

I voted to make a commitment to allocate 0.7 per cent of our gross national income to international aid and I promised to continue with this commitment in the manifesto on which I was re-elected last year. As our economy is smaller, so the aid budget has already fallen by £2.9 billion, so it does not feel like an appropriate time to cut further.

While I have every sympathy for the Chancellor as he deals with the economic challenges of the global pandemic, I made my views on this matter clear to him in the House of Commons which you can read here. This proposed change does not have my support and I will vote against it.

Thank you again for taking the time to contact me about this important issue.