Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if he will make it his policy to maintain the aid budget at 0.7 per cent of national income during the covid-19 pandemic.

Due to the severe impact that the pandemic has had on our economy, which has fallen eleven per cent this year, we are taking the tough decision to spend 0.5 per cent of our national income next year on official development assistance, rather than the usual 0.7 per cent.