Foreign aid: No plans to give MPs vote on cuts, says No 10

The government has "no plans" to offer MPs a vote on reversing £4bn cuts to the overseas aid budget, No 10 has said.

The PM's spokesman argued the fall, from 0.7% to 0.5% of national income this year, was allowed under existing aid laws.

It puts ministers on a collision course with some Tory and opposition MPs, who say a vote on the cuts must take place.

They are setting out their case during an emergency Commons debate.

It comes after a group of rebel Conservative MPs failed on Monday to overturn the cuts through a bill dealing with the UK's new research agency.

Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle ruled their planned vote could not be allowed, because it was not within the remit of the law being debated at the time.

But he called on ministers to give the Commons "the respect it deserves" and find a way to offer MPs an "effective" vote on the issue.

A leading rebel, Tory MP Andrew Mitchell, claimed the group would have had enough support to defeat the government if the vote had taken place.

He had previously pledged to "use all the parliamentary procedures we can" to force a vote on the issue, if their amendment was not selected.

The government reduced aid spending from 0.7% to 0.5% of national income this year, without changing the 2015 law that made the target binding.

Ministers have argued this legislation allows the target to be temporarily missed in exceptional circumstances - and says the Covid pandemic counts.

The PM's spokesman repeated this argument on Tuesday, adding the law "explicitly envisages the circumstances we now face" in the pandemic.

Some MPs and campaigners have rejected this argument - and have threatened legal action in a bid to force a vote on the spending.

The government says aid spending will return to the higher 0.7% level "when the fiscal situation allows" but has not specified a date.

Former prime minister Theresa May was among several Tory ex-cabinet ministers backing the return to 0.7%, along with opposition MPs.

Ministers will be relieved to avoid a vote on the aid cuts this week, ahead of welcoming world leaders from the G7 group for a summit in Cornwall.

Campaigners have highlighted that the UK is the only member of the group of advanced economies to cut aid spending this year.

But the government has said that the UK remains one of the world's most generous spenders on aid, with spending above £10bn this year.

However, MPs may have to wait a while for another opportunity to force a vote on aid spending in the Commons.

This is because only a small number of government bills are due to receive detailed scrutiny in the coming months, following the start of the parliamentary year in May.