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Rebellion Against Foreign Aid Cuts Fails - As Government Wins Vote

Bob Seely MP

Boris Johnson has seen off a Conservative rebellion over his plan to cut the UK's foreign aid spending.

MPs voted 333 to 298, majority 35, to back reducing overseas aid spending from 0.7 per cent of gross national income to 0. per cent.

The Island's MP Bob Seely voted against the Government and was one of the backbench rebels, as previously reported.

Ministers have insisted the cut is a "temporary" move amid high government spending caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Addressing the Commons earlier, the prime minister said the country's public finances are under a "greater strain than ever before in peacetime history".

"Every pound we spend on aid has to be borrowed and, in fact, represents not our money but money that we're taking from future generations," he told MPs.

But the decision has provoked fierce opposition, with a sizable number of Tory MPs speaking out against the cut.

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