Boris Johnson has avoided an embarrassing defeat in the Commons over his decision to renege on a manifesto pledge on foreign aid after the speaker did not select the amendment for consideration.
Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle rejected calls for a vote in parliament despite support from around 30 backbench Tories, who warned the government that cutting the international aid budget from 0.7 per cent of GDP to 0.5 per cent would damage the UK’s reputation at a time when it was hosting the G7 summit in Cornwall, and cause potentially “thousands” of deaths.
Sir Lindsay said the Tory rebel amendment on overseas aid “may not be debated” on Monday as it was “outside the scope of the Bill”.
But he added that he was open to hearing applications for an emergency debate on the issue, which could take place on Tuesday.
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