The UK's aid budget will be shifted to projects that promote its interests, the foreign secretary has said.

Boris Johnson said the money will be "more sensibly distributed" to support foreign policy aims such as denying safe havens to Islamist militants.

His comments came as Penny Mordaunt, the international development secretary, said the UK will provide a £21m boost to an emergency aid fund. The UK currently spends £13bn on aid each year.

The government is committed to spending 0.7% of national income on overseas aid but some politicians oppose such spending. Many will continue to argue that in a time of economic difficulties for the UK, money spent abroad could be used to help tackle health and social care funding problems at home.

About £1bn of the money the UK pays to the EU budget counts as part of the foreign aid budget. The EU spends that money on humanitarian aid and on emergency responses to world crises, as well as on projects in countries close to the EU and those hoping to join in the future.

Ms Mordaunt said that the extra £21m for the United Nations' Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) was needed because 2018 could be "even bleaker" than this year, with its "harrowing" humanitarian crises.

Read the full article about foreign aid from BBC