Tories face split over foreign aid budget as emboldened Ruth Davidson demands commitment

Scottish Tory leader said there is a 'strong centre-right case for putting overseas aid at the centre of a global Britain'

Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson (PA)

Tory splits over aid spending are set to deepen after the party’s Scottish leader Ruth Davidson demanded it be placed at the centre of Theresa May’s plans.

Ms Davidson brushed aside calls from right-wing Tory MPs for the UK to ditch its commitment to maintain international development funding at 0.7 per cent of GDP, and instead argued it be used to support British foreign policy and free trade.

The Scottish Conservative leader has already annoyed right-wingers in her party with calls for a change in the UK’s approach to Brexit, mirroring demands for a more jobs-focussed withdrawal by Chancellor Philip Hammond.

In a report published by the centre-right Policy Exchange think tank, she argued capitalism could help alleviate poverty and said the UK's £13bn aid budget could be focused on liberalising trade to that end.

Ms Davidson said: “As this report argues, there is a strong centre-right case for putting overseas aid at the centre of a global Britain, working alongside our commitments to strong defence and becoming a global champion for free trade.

“To defeat poverty, we will need to support both aid and trade, markets and global public goods - not create an artificial dichotomy between them.

“While our aid system is rightly well-regarded worldwide, there is still more we could do to make it better and more effective.”

Right-wing Tories have been desperate to discredit UK aid spending and push the Government to ditching a commitment to the United Nations’ 0.7 per cent spending target.

At Prime Minister’s Questions last week Philip Davies challenged Ms May over the issue, telling her: “Spending more and more money on overseas aid each year does not make us look compassionate to the public.

“It makes us look idiotic to the public when that money is much needed in the United Kingdom.”

Ex-Tory minister Robert Halfon MP recently demanded aid spending be scrapped to pay for a rise in the public sector pay, while others have suggested using the money to pay for other domestic and foreign policies.

Ms Davidson’s influence has increased since the election, in which she was credited with leading a revival of the party’s fortunes north of the border.