SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford has blasted the UK Government after it was revealed girls’ education is one of the areas hardest hit by the cuts to overseas aid.

In a hard-hitting outburst, he pointed out that spending on girls’ education was down by a quarter – despite it being a stated priority by the Prime Minister and a Tory manifesto commitment.

Last week, Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab was accused of “sneaking out” the details of how the slashed aid budget was to be allocated. His statement came after Westminster abandoned its commitment to spend 0.7% of national income on overseas aid, cutting it to 0.5%.

Although Raab maintained he was still prioritising girls’ education worldwide, analysis by the charity Save the Children showed it was one of the areas to suffer most by the aid cut and would actually be reduced by 25% compared with 2019-20 levels, potentially putting established projects in jeopardy.

Blackford told the Sunday National: “UK aid has been cut by almost half since before the pandemic despite Covid-19 having such a profound impact on global security, while spending on girls’ education is down a quarter despite it being a stated priority by the Prime Minister and a manifesto commitment.

“The World Bank predicts the pandemic will push up to 115 million people into extreme poverty. In the world’s poorest countries, hunger and cases of malaria are rising and the UN projects that as many as 11m girls may never return to education after school closures.”

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Protecting the foreign aid budget has long been supported by all four nations of the UK. At the last general election, every major party recommitted to it.

Blackford said educating girls saved lives and built stronger families, communities and economies.

“An educated female population increases a country’s productivity and fuels economic growth,” he said.

The Sunday National has been told that the cuts are coming when the world is facing the biggest education emergency in living memory and, for girls in particular, the chance for an education could now be lost forever.

Christian Aid and the Scottish Catholic International Aid Fund (Sciaf) are among 200 UK NGOs that have condemned the cuts to the overseas aid budget.

Baroness Liz Sugg, who was the UK’s special envoy for girls, resigned from her ministerial role after the cuts were announced and they have also been criticised by former Tory international development secretary Andrew Mitchell, and Sarah Champion, chair of the Commons International Development Committee (IDC) who accused Raab of “sneaking out” the details last week.

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A recent Cambridge University report on the urgent requirement for political leadership to tackle the worldwide learning crisis in girls’ education in middle and low-income countries was commissioned by what is now the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.

In it Raab stated: “This problem has a real cost – not only in loss of talent and potential – but on communities, societies, and the global economy ... It is time for leaders to step up and act.”

Rose Caldwell, CEO of the charity Plan International UK, urged the Government to reconsider the “devastating” cuts.

Speaking to the Sunday National, she said they would have far-reaching consequences for the world’s most vulnerable children, especially girls, at a time when they most needed support.

“The Prime Minister was elected on a manifesto that included a strong commitment to give 0.7% of GNI to overseas aid but with these cuts this promise will be broken,” she said.

“Now is not the time to shirk our responsibilities. Covid-19 continues to devastate the world’s poorest communities, and at the same time, Yemen and South Sudan stand on the brink of famine. We also face the biggest education emergency in living memory, and for girls in particular, the chance for an education could be lost forever.”

“The UK is abandoning its commitments and cutting aid to the world’s poorest people,” Caldwell said.  “The UK Government must urgently change course and make good on its commitments.”

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Sally Foster-Fulton, head of Christian Aid Scotland, said it was “perverse” to cut the UK aid budget, when it was known that the pandemic was pushing even more people into extreme poverty.

“This year, the UK hosts the G7 in Cornwall and COP26 here in Scotland, two hugely critical opportunities for positive, transformational change,” she said. “If we have learned anything from the Covid-19 pandemic, it is that we are all one family and what happens to one affects us all. To turn away from our global neighbours, especially in this unprecedented time of challenge and struggle, is heartless, inhumane and short-sighted.”

Sciaf director Alistair Dutton said it was “catastrophic” to cut aid in the middle of a pandemic.

“It will be devastating for millions of people living in extreme poverty at a time when they need a hand up to build a future,” he said. “It also sends mixed messages and undermines Britain’s global leadership as we urge all nations to come together for the UN COP26 summit in Glasgow to tackle climate change once and for all.”

As foreign secretary, Boris Johnson had said he wanted people to be “angry” rather than “complacent” about girls missing out on school. In 2018, he said the failure to have equal access to education for girls was an “abomination, unfair and stupid”.

He argued there had to be a political “escalation” of effort to educate girls around the world. “Most of the battle is getting people to accept that there’s a problem,” he said.

And now there are certainly plenty of people angry about the aid cuts which are expected to slash global girls’ education spending by 25%.