Britain's spending on overseas aid has rocketed by £2.3bn one year, and the UK is now the second largest contributor to foreign aid in the world after the United States. Figures show that David Cameron's pledge to spend 0.7 percent of GDP on overseas aid has led to costs increasing from £8.3bn to £10.6bn in just one year.

Both right-wing Conservatives and UKIP have complained that the figures are too high. Only a few small countries spend a larger percentage of their GDP. The United States spends just 0.19 percent, but because it is the world's largest economy this still equates to the biggest cash sum.

Germany spends 0.38 percent, whilst Australia, Canada, France, the ­Netherlands and Portugal all cut their spending on aid last year. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) said that £1 in every £8 spent on aid by governments around the world now comes from Britain.

Amidst the kerfuffle of the Scottish referendum, a Private Members’ Bill brought by Liberal Democrat MP Michael Moore passed relatively unnoticed through Britain's House of Commons on Friday.

Moore’s International Development (Official Development Assistance Target) Bill will enshrine in law a requirement to spend 0.7 percent of our annual Gross National Income on Foreign Aid. Right now, that’s about £11 billion. Not only that, but the money will be ring-fenced.

Among those who voted against was Philip Davies, who rightly called the bill a "sop" to the "Guardian-reading, sandal-wearing, lentil munching liberals.”

Sir Gerald Howarth asked why international aid spending was being singled out when defence spending was "allowed to go hang?" Sir Edward Leigh hit the nail on the head, pointing out it should not be about "how much we spend on something" but the "value for money of what we achieve."