UK MPs back Boris Johnson’s foreign aid cut despite outcry

LONDON — MPs formally backed Boris Johnson’s cut to foreign aid after a failed rebellion by prominent Conservatives including Johnson’s predecessor Theresa May.

The U.K. prime minister’s parliamentary majority of 80 was cut to 35, as 333 MPs voted in favor and 298 against the move to reduce overseas development spending from 0.7 percent of national income to 0.5 percent.

Funding for overseas aid was reduced at the beginning of the year without a change to legislation after Johnson argued the move was permissible under the current law, which allows the target to be temporarily missed in exceptional circumstances. 

However, the government was severely criticized, including by Commons Speaker Lindsay Hoyle, for not offering MPs a chance to ratify the new spending quota.

That led to Tuesday’s vote, and a bid by Chancellor Rishi Sunak to peel away rebels by committing to raising the aid budget back to 0.7 percent when the U.K.’s public spending watchdog forecasts the country is not borrowing to cover day-to-day spending and underlying debt. 

Sunak told the House: “This decision is categorically not a rejection of our global responsibilities.”

Speaking against his proposed compromise, May told MPs meeting this test could take “four to five years” and accused the government of “turning its back on the world’s poorest” as she broke the party whip for the first time in her career.

The 0.5 percent level means £10 billion will be spent on aid this year, about £4 billion less than if the original commitment had been kept.