The government made no mention of plans to restore aid spending in the Autumn budget and is on track to miss its current aid commitment.

It had been rumoured that a Burnham government planned to reverse the overseas aid cuts made by Sir Keir Starmer, who reduced an already shrunken aid budget from 0.5 to 0.3 per cent of gross national income (GNI) in February 2025.

The current 0.3 per cent allocation is the lowest proportion of national income spent on aid since 1999.

It was expected the reversal would be drawn up as part of a wider shake-up of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) under Ed Miliband as foreign secretary, The Telegraph reported in September.

But there was no mention of any timeline for restoring Britain’s overseas development assistance to the legally enshrined 0.7 per cent of gross national income GNI target on Wednesday.

The UK is now also on track to miss its 0.3 per cent aid spending commitment, equivalent to £9.2 billion per year, following a failure to confirm any…