The Prime Minister has announced that the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and Department for International Development will merge to create a new overseas department; the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO). 

The FCDO will place UK Aid at the heart of what it does, leveraging the development expertise of DFID through the reach of the FCO’s global network. 

This is not about rolling back commitments on international development, but about pursuing them with greater effect, and that reducing poverty will remain central to the UK’s international work.

The UK remains committed to spending 0.7 per cent of GNI on international development, being the only G7 country to have enshrined this in legislation.