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The UK spent £1.5 billion supporting European Commission aid programmes - including one to help the coconut sector in the Caribbean - according to newly released figures.

Numbers released by the Department for International Development show the UK paid £13.3 billion in overseas development aid in 2016, meeting the target of 0.7% of the country's gross domestic product.

This represents an increase of £1.25 billion on 2015, with the amount given to European aid programmes increasing by £177 million.

Programmes funded by European cash include a £1 million project to "address four key issues that are preventing the coconut sector from achieving its full potential" and a project to promote the "preservation and promotion" of music and dance in Tanzania, costing £569,806.

Meanwhile, projects funded solely by UK aid included nearly £87,000 on a project in India looking at whether yoga-based cardiac rehabilitation programme can cut the risk of people suffering further heart attacks and £116,631 on an eel conservation programme in the Philippines.

Conservative MP Jacob Rees-Mogg told the Sun: "Spending money to teach yoga in India is like spending money to teach Catholicism to the Holy Father."

Earlier this week, the new international development secretary Penny Mordaunt wrote in the Telegraph: "I believe in aid.

"I believe in the power it has to end disease, hunger and extreme poverty, to build strong economies and to help the world's most vulnerable people live lives of dignity.

"Aid also allows us to influence and shape the world around us."