UK PM mulls backtracking on foreign aid cuts amid backbench rebellion

Boris Johnson is increasingly likely to backtrack and offer MPs a vote on foreign aid cuts. (File/AFP)

• Conservative rebels warn funding drop would damage international reputation
• Syria, Yemen, Libya, Lebanon among countries set to be hit hardest by policy change

LONDON: UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson is increasingly likely to backtrack and offer MPs a vote on foreign aid cuts as warnings mount that the move could damage the reputation of his Conservative Party and the lives of impoverished people in the Arab world.
The Sunday Times reported that Johnson is “actively considering” plans to allow MPs a binding vote on the £4 billion ($5.6 billion) cuts to the overseas aid budget before the parliamentary summer recess, according to its sources.
Former Brexit Secretary David Davis is among 50 Conservative rebel MPs — including former Prime Minister Theresa May — who are planning to vote against a proposal to cut the foreign aid budget from 0.7 percent of gross domestic product to 0.5 percent despite the party committing to maintaining the figure in its 2019 general election manifesto.
Syria, Yemen, Libya and Lebanon are among the countries set to be hit hardest by the policy change.
Downing Street has maintained that the cuts are a temporary measure due to the economic effects of the coronavirus pandemic, but has offered no timeframe for returning to the 0.7 percent target.
Davis told BBC Radio 4 last month that potentially lifesaving schemes had already been canceled as a result of the move. 
“It’s going to have devastating consequences across the world. Historically I’m a critic of aid spending, but doing it this way is really so harmful,” he said.
“You’ve got massive cuts in clean water which kills more children worldwide than almost anything else — 80 percent cut there,” he added.
“If you’re a small child and suddenly you get dirty water, you get an infection from it and you die, temporary doesn’t mean much.
“If you’re going to kill people with this, which I think is going to be the outcome in many areas, we need to reverse those immediately.”
The 0.7 percent figure is enshrined in law, and reducing it would lead to millions of pounds less being spent on supporting vital humanitarian causes in Yemen, Syria and across the Arab region.
Women’s reproductive health centers and childhood polio vaccination schemes are under fire. 
In June, Johnson avoided a parliamentary defeat after MPs were blocked from voting on an amendment to the proposed cuts, which had been proposed by Conservative rebels.
Parliament Speaker Sir Linsay Hoyle said Johnson had failed to show the House of Commons “the due respect which it deserves,” adding that the government must table an urgent, legally binding vote on the funding cuts.
A senior Whitehall source told the Sunday Times: “The rebels have made it clear that this issue is not going to go away. I think there is now a realization within government that this could become a much longer issue and there is legislation coming up that will require the goodwill of MPs.
“Giving MPs a vote in parliament is now under very active consideration and there is the very real prospect that it will happen before the summer recess.”
Andrew Mitchell, a former international development secretary and strong critic of foreign aid cuts, said: “The government needs to get off this hook, which is damaging our international reputation and leading to hundreds of thousands of avoidable deaths.”
He added: “They do not command a majority in the Commons on this issue. Too many Tory (Conservative) colleagues are deeply concerned and will not support the government’s current position.”
Davis said: “The simple truth is that this policy will lead to the death of women and children. It’s a breach of our manifesto promise, it’s very likely unlawful and has never been put before parliament.”
He added: “Many MPs feel an enormous moral imperative to put this right as soon as possible and much of the public feel the same.”