Revealed: plans for huge cuts in UK overseas aid

This programme has seen parts of government correspondence from last month proposing sweeping cuts to the foreign aid budget to more than 10 named countries, in a leaked email shared with us by Open Democracy.

Among the proposals under discussion are slashing funds for Syria by 67%, and giving 60% less to Somalia and Congo.

Aid charities say that cuts on that kind of scale couldn’t come at a worse time for countries going through crisis, warning it could tarnish the UK’s standing as a nation serious about its commitments to the world’s most vulnerable people.