£5bn UK overseas aid cuts cannot be challenged in court, say government lawyers
Cuts of £5bn to the UK overseas aid budget cannot be challenged in the courts, government lawyers have said, even though ministers have no plan to return spending to the legal commitment of 0.7 % of UK gross national income (GNI).The assertion by Treasury solicitors that ministers are immune from legal challenge over aid cuts comes in preliminary exchanges with the aid advocacy group One Campaign.It is the first step in what could prove a highly embarrassing judicial review.In the spring statement in March the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, said she was slashing aid from 0.
5% to 0.3 % of GNI.The international development minister, Jenny Chapman, recently said in a Guardian interview that this level of spending was the new normal.The 40% cut, due to be imposed by April 2027, is being billed as necessary to fund a new permanent increase in defence spending required by long-term changes to the security landscape.The previous aid cut, from 0.
7 % to 0.5 %, imposed by Dominic Raab, the then Conservative foreign secretary, was billed as temporary.It was accompanied by aspirational timetables for aid spending to return to 0.7%, the target set out in the 2015 International Development Act entrenching that figure as the government commitment on overseas aid.One Campaign says that for ministers to comply with the law, they face a choice of either repealing the act, a vote that some Labour MPs will be reluctant to justify to their electorates, or to set out a credible pathway to return to the target.
The campaign said it is impossible for ministers to keep legislation on the statute book that places duties upon them they intend to defy.In their legal defence – a written exchange on the legal merits between government and One Campaign prior to a potential judicial review – government lawyers claimed a section in the act shields ministers from all legal challenge.They said the act’s only mechanism for securing accountability is through a ministerial report to parliament.They pointed to a section of the act on the ministerial duty to report to parliament that states the reporting duty “does not affect the lawfulness of anything done or omitted to be done by any person”.The lawyers told One Campaign that “this puts beyond doubt that parliament intended the courts would have no jurisdiction”.
This interpretation is being contested by the Liberal Democrat peer Jeremy Purvis, who helped draft the legislation and steered it through parliament.He said ministers cannot hide behind the narrow section of the act on minister’s reporting duty to claim it ousts the courts.He added: “This government has not just missed the target but is changing it, and there is no scope to do this.“The simple fact is the government is seeking to avoid a vote in parliament, avoid the courts and avoid all accountability for reneging on all requirements under the act.” He added the government had set out no pathway to return to 0.
7 %.One Campaign says the cuts are likely to be devastating.Its director, Adrian Lovett, said there was no evidence that ministers had met the requirement to undertake impact assessments of the cuts on poverty reduction and gender equality.Ministers say they only have to make such an assessment when cuts to specific programmes are being made.
Michael Vaughan criticises Ben Stokes’s ‘staggering’ decision to put India in to bat
The former England captain Michael Vaughan said he was “staggered” that Ben Stokes chose to bowl first after winning the toss on the opening day of the Test series against India. The tourists proceeded to plunder 359 runs for the loss of three wickets on a flat pitch with Yashasvi Jaiswal and the new captain, Shubman Gill, both scoring centuries.The last six Tests played at Headingley had all ended in victory for the side that bowled first, and Vaughan, a former Yorkshire batter, accused England of making their decision based on the history books rather than the conditions on the day. “I am an old-school traditionalist here at Leeds that when the sun is shining, with dry weather, you bat,” said the 50-year-old Vaughan, who played 51 first-class matches at Headingley including four as England captain.“I was staggered when he said he was going to bowl
Shubman Gill glides India into commanding position with regal coronation | Andy Bull
For a man who moves so slowly, Shubman Gill can fit a lot into a split second. Gill is one of those rare athletes who works in a different rhythm to the rest of us, so that even when a ball’s coming down at 90mph he seems to be able to take a beat to whistle a bar of Jim Croce’s Time in a Bottle while he thinks about what he’s going to order for dinner that evening, finally decides how to meet this latest delivery and then, at the last possible moment, follows through. He is, as any number of players and coaches say, someone you only need to see hit one shot to know exactly how good he is.England, unfortunately for them, got to watch a lot more than one on the first day of the opening Test.In style, Gill is a throwback batter
England v India: first men’s cricket Test, day one – as it happened
I’ll leave you with Ali Martin’s report from Headingley. Thanks for your company, see you in the morning. Big first hour!Simon Burnton soaks up the Headingley atmosphereThough a pleasant breeze took the edge off it, at lunch the biggest queues were for the water refill stations, and by tea the bars were virtually deserted but heaven help anyone who wanted an ice cream. A previously rather flat atmosphere perked up soon afterwards, potentially assisted by copious quantities of soft serve. Flake? Not us, pal
Royal Ascot 2025: Cercene claims major Coronation Stakes shock on day four – as it happened
That’s this blog wrapped for the day. We’ll be back tomorrow.Don’t forget to gaze through Tom Jenkins’s photo gallery.6.10 Royal Ascot result1st Adrestia 10/12nd Hammer The Hammer 9/23rd Redorange 12/14th Zayer 16/124 ran,Non-runner 15, 16, 18, 3A fine winner from Oisin Murphy who seems the best judge of these races, give or take Ryan Moore
Jack Draper earns Wimbledon seedings boost by making Queen’s Club last four
Jack Draper is a perfectionist in every sense of the word, which means that for the third consecutive match he departed the court quite unimpressed by the level of tennis he demonstrated. There were, after all, quite a few self-sabotaging concentration lapses, his forehand was sometimes too erratic and he did not always seem comfortable moving on the slick grass.In the most important moments, however, when the match hung in the balance, the 23-year-old locked in and produced his best tennis. Once again, the British No 1 held his nerve in the final stages of a tough three-setter as he defeated Brandon Nakashima 6-4, 5-7, 6-4 to reach the semi-finals at Queen’s Club for the first time in his career.The victory means Draper will return to his career-high ranking of No 4 on Monday, securing him a top-four seeding at Wimbledon
India’s Shubman Gill and Yashasvi Jaiswal make tons to leave England toiling in first Test
India slightly snuck into the country four weeks ago, dribs and drabs getting an A tour under way before the bulk of the first-teamers landed and began playing intra-squad cricket. The delayed finish to the Indian Premier League commanded eyeballs, then the World Test Championship final last week. All told, it was a soft launch.But on day one of this summer’s marquee series, the tourists announced their arrival with a flex of the muscles and an eruption of runs. Sublime centuries from Yashasvi Jaiswal (101) and Shubman Gill (127 not out) had driven England potty and taken India to 359 for three at stumps
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