INTERNATIONAL development is close to Scotland’s heart. My inbox is regularly full of messages from people wanting to see us engage with some of the poorest in the world, not just out of charity but because it is the right thing to do. If the pandemic has taught us anything it is that we’re all interconnected.

The Tory government had to be dragged kicking and screaming to give Westminster the right to decide yesterday whether it should approve cuts to international aid. It had hoped to push it through without even a vote. Even when it did agree to one, it gave MPs less than 24 hours to prepare for the debate. We lost 333 to 298 – a rebellion, but not a huge one.

The argument the Tory government used to justify its decision to cut foreign aid was that Parliament must decide between fiscal responsibility or human responsibility. It said there is no money to help the world’s poorest. It said Covid has changed the game. It has said nothing of substance because it knows its actions are morally reprehensible, irresponsible and dangerous.

We in the SNP have condemned the aid cuts from the very beginning, as have the Liberal Democrats, Labour and, to their credit, some Tory MPs. In my constituency of Stirling, 98.2% of total votes cast went to parties committed to spending 0.7 % of gross national income (GNI) on international aid. Tories, Labour, SNP, LibDems, Greens – all made a commitment, but only the Tories have broken their promise.

Despite this, they want us to believe they will increase foreign aid “when the fiscal situation allows it”. Yet their criteria has only been met once in the past 20 years. Be of no doubt, I believe this is a sinister attempt to balance the books on the backs of the world’s poorest. There is nothing fiscally responsible about this Tory government. It is increasing investment in nuclear weapons, handing out NHS contracts to the Tory chums and splashing out on a £200 million Royal Yacht for. .. what exactly? To sail up the Nile and deliver aid like some mercy ship? No, it shall only be a galling reminder that when the world needed humanitarian aid the most, the UK could only contribute empty words to feed empty stomachs.

Of course, that’s all assuming this Government will keep its word. We all remember how Mr Johnson promised there would be no hard border in the Irish Sea – then put one there anyway.

We all remember how he promised Brexit would be a titanic success – only for trade with our closest neighbours to plummet In Scotland, we want our taxes to be spent on something worthwhile. Scotland is an internationalist country with a humanitarian conscience. We want to emulate our closest neighbours in the EU and our friends across the pond who have increased international aid spending during this pandemic.

There is something to be said about the fact that while the UK is cutting aid to 0.5% of GNI, the SNP Scottish Government is increasing international aid spending by 50%. Imagine how much more an independent Scotland could do to tackle poverty both at home and abroad!

Instead we remain tied to an immoral and irresponsible Tory government and the only G7 country to cut international aid. Jacob Rees-Mogg, in his statement to the Commons on Monday announcing that a debate would take place on the cuts, said: “Votes have consequences and if the motion were to be negative that would be a significant consequence for our fiscal situation.”

He is right – votes do have consequences and cutting foreign aid has health, security and economic consequences. The savings from the cuts are tiny but their impacts are global. Yemen will see its aid cut by 60%, even though more than 22 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance.

Wash, hygiene and sanitation programmes will have their funding cut by 80% despite being a key defence in the fight against coronavirus. This Tory government claims the cuts will save the British taxpayer; it ignores the reality that 100,000 children will die as a result, their lives cut short to save pennies.

We are only an island in the geographic sense – the impact of foreign aid cuts will come back to bite us. Our soft power reputation has taken a hit that will take decades to recover from. Our betrayal of others will be long remembered whenever we ask for international support.

Our geopolitical rivals will come in to fill the gap that we leave behind. And where human actors fail to fill the gap, death, famine and plague will do their job more effectively. The UK remains a major donor of aid, of course, but this is still a broken promise to the world’s poorest at the worst time, abandoning responsibility to international security, health and prosperity.

But then, this is what this Government wanted all along. Despite all the breathless rhetoric of Global Britain, the reality is a smaller, cheaper, meaner little country ill at ease when faced with the reality of its place in the world.

Scotland can do so much better, we already have a well of talented international development experts in and around East Kilbride – there’s a talent pool to recruit for Scotland’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.