Boris Johnson could swerve Tory rebellion on foreign aid cuts – follow live

Boris Johnson faces the prospect of defeat in the House of Commons for the first time since he won a convincing majority at the 2019 election. Rebel Conservative MPs are convinced that they have enough support to force the Prime Minister to restore the cut in foreign aid.

The Independent’s chief political commentator John Rentoul will be answering your questions live later today.

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Solicitor General Lucy Frazer has acknowledged that the trade complexities surrounding Brexit and Northern Ireland were “more difficult than we anticipated”.

Speaking to Sky News on Monday morning, she said: “It is very difficult on the ground in terms of trade.

“It is really important that we sort it and Lord Frost is doing just that.

“As it has panned out, on the ground it is more difficult than we anticipated and we do need to sort out that trade arrangement.”

The proposed cut in government spending on international aid from 0.7 per cent of GDP to 0.5 per cent would save around £4bn. That will bring the UK aid budget to around £10bn.

But the UK is due to receive £16bn from the International Monetary Fund, which Labour former prime minister Gordon Brown says should fund the aid budget.

For comparison, Germany spent around $29bn (£20bn) on foreign aid in 2020, the only country to spend more than the UK. In proportional terms that is 0.74 per cent of national income.

Matt Hancock, the health secretary, will make a Commons statement at around 3.30pm today to update MPs on the latest developments in the government’s Covid repsonse.

That will be followed by a statement from the education secretary, Gavin Williamson, on the “education recovery” following the pandemic.

Ulster Unionist leader Doug Beattie has defended his attendance at an illegal protest against the Northern Ireland Protocol in Co Armagh.

The Upper Bann MLA said he turned up at the event on Saturday to observe and listen, and said he was standing well back from the parade.

“I was not part of the parade, I stood well back from the gathering which was there at the demonstration and I listened to what was being said from the podium. I think that’s also very important to listen to what people have to say,” he said.

Loyalists gathered in Portadown town centre on Saturday in demonstration over the Northern Ireland Protocol and what organisers said is “two-tier policing”.

A number of people leading the march were wearing balaclavas and many held anti-Protocol signs and placards while others waved Union flags.

Police officers held a sign informing protesters they were taking part in an illegal protest and that they are liable to arrest.

The Telegraph is reporting that a potential Tory backbench rebellion over cuts to the foreign aid budget has been averted after Commons clerks said the amendment would not be brought to a vote.

Oliver Dowden, the culture secretary, has described the suspension handed to England cricketer Ollie Robinson while he is investigated for racist and sexist messages as “over the top”.

The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) said Robinson has been suspended from all international cricket pending the outcome of a disciplinary investigation into offensive posts he sent in 2012 and 2013, when he was in his late teens

Mr Dowden said Robinson’s tweets were “offensive and wrong” but added that they were “also a decade old and written by a teenager”.

He said: “The teenager is now a man and has rightly apologised.

“The ECB has gone over the top by suspending him and should think again.”

Kent County Council is threatening the home secretary with legal action as it warns its services for unaccompanied child migrants are at breaking point for the second time in less than a year.

The authority said it may no longer be able to accept new unaccompanied asylum-seeking children (UASC) within days, and has served a formal letter before action to the Home Office.

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The UK foreign aid budget has expanded significantly since the 1970s, with the largest sustained increase in spending (as a share of GDP) during the 2000s under Labour.

This chart, produced by Statista, shows how it has changed over the past five decades.

More on Joe Biden’s meeting with Boris Johnson in Cornwall this week, where the US president is expected to warn the PM not to renege on the commitments made in his Brexit deal when they meet for the first time at the G7 summit.

Mr Biden will use a meeting with the prime minister to back the Northern Ireland protocol and warn the prospect of a US-UK trade deal could be damaged if the current dispute with the EU remains unresolved.

However, Biden will also make it clear that he expects Brussels to stop being “bureaucratic” and adopt a more flexible approach to the implementation of the protocol, diplomatic sources told the newspaper.