Is the foreign aid row a sign of things to come?

Though the amendment on foreign aid was not selected by the Speaker yesterday, the row over the budget cut is not over yet. Today MPs will have an emergency debate about the policy, and Lindsey Hoyle has advised that the government should bring the matter in front of the House in the future. This is just one of a number of things bothering Tory MPs at the moment – so what’s going on? 

James Forsyth sums it up as: ‘There’s a pattern about money, essentially.’ With the worst of the pandemic over the Treasury is looking to tighten its pursestrings. But Isabel Hardman points out that, while MPs are largely supportive of the aid cut, the same problem might be more difficult when it comes to healthcare or education:

‘The international development cuts might be quite easy for Red Wall MPs to defend. It’s not so easy to parents in their seats a very small amount of education catch-up funding.’