A FUTURE government of an independent Scotland would enshrine in law the commitment to the UN target of committing 0.7% of its budget to international aid, a conference of global development organisations will be told today.

International Development Minister Humza Yousaf spoke earlier this year of aiming for a 1% figure, but an aide said the legal commitment to the UN minimum was a key step.

Mr Yousaf will renew the commitment to "Scotland's sister nation of Malawi."

He will tell the conference: "Under successive Westminster governments, the UK has failed to meet the UN aid target.

"It is hard to quantify the precise difference that the UK's missing aid would have made to the world's poorest, but there can be no doubt it would have make a positive difference and would have saved and improved lives.

"An independent Scotland will not make the same mistake."