Paul Chitnis, chief executive of the Scottish Catholic International Aid Fund (SCIAF) told The Scotsman that it was "not appropriate" to hand nearly £2 million from the international aid budget to cover some of the cost of the visit last year.

Mr Chitnis called for rules about how international aid is spent to be "tightened up", as the shadow international development secretary, Harriet Harman, said the money should be put back into the aid budget.