Former international development secretary Andrew Mitchell has tabled an amendment to reverse the reduction of the government’s target of 0.7% of gross national income (GNI) to 0.5% - which equates to more than £4bn.
Former health secretary Jeremy Hunt and former Brexit secretary David Davis are among the senior Conservatives backing the move to restore aid spending to the previous target from next January.
Arguments for the cuts
The Covid contraction
Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab has said the decision to cut the aid budget, first announced in November, was “extremely difficult” but necessary, owing to the unforeseeable cost of dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic.
Carrie Symonds: Wie mächtig ist Boris Johnsons Ehefrau
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Who is Carrie Symonds? Public relations expert rose through the ranks quickly
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A former Conservative Party communications chief, Carrie Symonds is now reportedly the wife of Prime Minister Boris Johnson after the pair held a secret wedding at Westminster Cathedral on Saturday.
Ms Symonds first found herself making headlines when she was romantically linked to Mr Johnson, and has more recently been in the spotlight following the birth of their baby boy and rumours about her influence inside Number 10.
On April 29 last year, Ms Symonds gave birth to her first child, Wilfred, in the same month Mr Johnson was taken into hospital with coronavirus.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his fiancee Carrie Symonds (Stefan Rousseau/PA)