Britain's foreign aid budget must be harnessed to help the UK win international favour after Brexit, the International Development Secretary has claimed.

Priti Patel said the total aid budget of £12 billion was one of the most generous in the world and that it should "work in our national interest".

Christian charity World Vision told Premier that aid should always be about the most vulnerable.

Government Relations Manager Peter Keegan said on the News Hour: "I'd start with the story of the Good Samaritan, the story of being a good neighbour.

"To be a good neighbour is to reach out and to see and meet the needs of the person who's lying on the ground wounded and the person who's vulnerable".

Patel said in an interview with the BBC: "We have to make sure that our aid works in our national interest and also that it works for our taxpayers."

International Development Secretary Priti Patel

Britain's foreign aid budget is now protected in law and cannot be cut after a campaign by Christian charities.

Despite that the minister said she would cut the funding to global organisations unless they give the taxpayer better value for money.

She warned: "British soft power is exactly where the Department for International Development and our aid and other relationships around the world come together to deliver in our national interest and deliver for Britain when it comes to free trade agreements, but also life post-Brexit."

Peter Keegan speaking to Premier's Alex Williams: