THE UK Government will slash bilateral funding for overseas water, sanitation and hygiene projects by more than 80%, a leaked memo has revealed.

WaterAid described cuts to projects in developing nations as “savage”, highlighting that sanitation and hand washing is a key line of defence during the coronavirus pandemic.

The Foreign and Commonwealth Development Office (FCDO) said “tough but necessary decisions” are being made due to Covid-19’s financial impact.

The Government has come under sustained criticism for shelving its manifesto commitment to spend 0.7% of national income on overseas aid, cutting that to 0.5%.

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Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab came under criticism for having given scant detail of how the cut will affect overseas aid spending when publishing a statement last week.

Further details have now emerged from the leak, in the form of a document prepared for FCDO minister Wendy Morton and first reported by the Telegraph.

“We expect criticism on the reduction in spend, particularly as the UK public views water, sanitation and hygiene (Wash) as a priority area for UK aid, because hand hygiene is widely recognised as a critical intervention to counter the spread of Covid-19, and because the cuts are being announced in the year that the UK is hosting Cop26,” it says.

“Try to focus their attention on the fact that we are shifting our approach to strengthening sustainable and resilient national Wash services,” it added.

While the overall Wash budget will be cut by 64% in 2021/22 compared to 2019, bilateral aid funding for clean water will be reduced by 80%.

Tim Wainwright, chief executive of the WaterAid charity, said: “There is never a good time to cut aid for lifesaving water and sanitation but the middle of the worst pandemic for 100 years must be one of the worst.

“What is even more incredible is that these savage cuts to the funding of water and sanitation, which are the first line of defence against the twin threats of Covid-19 and the impacts of climate change in the world’s poorest countries, should happen just months ahead of the G7 and Cop26 climate summits at which the UK is wanting to demonstrate global leadership.”

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The FCDO defended its plan to cut the overall aid budget.

“The seismic impact of the pandemic on the UK economy has forced us to take tough but necessary decisions, including temporarily reducing the overall amount we spend on aid. We will still spend more than £10 billion this year to fight poverty, tackle climate change and improve global health,” a spokesman said.

“We are working through what this means for individual programmes. Decisions will be announced in due course.”

Labour’s shadow international development secretary Preet Kaur said the cuts to clean water funding is “shameful”.