More than 7,000 people in the region have signed a petition to cut foreign aid spending – with residents in the most affluent areas the most active.

The Government is committed to giving away 0.7 per cent of the gross national income – a measure of all the wealth generated by people living in the UK – in foreign aid to developing countries per year.

A total of 7,425 people in the West Midlands signed a petition in opposition to this policy – but what was most noticeable is the city divide.

Aspirational Sutton Coldfield, Meriden and Solihull were the most strongly opposed to foreign aid.

Meanwhile, it attracted just a fraction of those numbers in the Birmingham wards of Hodge Hill, Hall Green and Ladywood.

Britain one of six rich countries to meet UN foreign aid target

In fact, just 100 people from Ladywood signed the petition – making residents of Shabana Mahmood’s constituency among the least enthusiastic in Britain for potentially slimming down the foreign aid budget.

The UK met the 0.7 per cent target in 2014, according to last year’s report from the Department for International Development.

In March 2015 the last coalition government passed a law that requires the Government to hit this target each year.

The petition argues: “We believe this is the wrong approach because it fuels waste by focusing on targets, not outcomes.”

Ethiopia was the biggest recipient of bilateral aid in 2014, receiving £322 million.

The east African country was followed by India, Pakistan, Sierra Leone and Nigeria.

Where did the signatures come from?

  • Sutton Coldfield 572
  • Meriden 556
  • Solihull 499
  • Aldridge-Brownhills 343
  • Stourbridge 367
  • Dudley South 301
  • Coventry North West 350
  • Halesowen and Rowley Regis 289
  • Dudley North 258
  • Birmingham Northfield 317
  • Wolverhampton South West 262
  • Coventry South 332
  • Walsall North 239
  • Birmingham Edgbaston 244
  • Birmingham Selly Oak 241
  • Walsall South 226
  • Coventry North East 260
  • Birmingham Erdington 210
  • Wolverhampton North East 198
  • West Bromwich East 191
  • Wolverhampton South East 185
  • Birmingham Yardley 182
  • Birmingham Perry Barr 171
  • West Bromwich West 165
  • Warley 138
  • Birmingham Hodge Hill 124
  • Birmingham Hall Green 105
  • Birmingham Ladywood 100
  • West Midlands 7,425