Both the FCDO and DCMS are “unprotected” Whitehall departments, meaning their budgets are not ringfenced. In the autumn Budget Reeves reduced the FCDO’s overseas aid budget, which provides most of the World Service grant, while boosting the DCMS budget for 2024-25 by about £300mn to £2.37bn.

But the Campaign for the Arts, a charity, said inflation meant the rise equated to a drop of 1.5 per cent in day-to-day spending in real terms, with a 3.5 per cent fall this year.