Major new particulars on slashing billions from worldwide support after outcry
Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper will set out how the Government will slash the international aid budget after critics warned it would remove food and healthcare from the world’s most needy
Yvette Cooper will set out how billions will be slashed from the international aid budget(Image: Humphrey Nemar)
Yvette Cooper will today vow to prioritise conflict zones as the axe falls on billions of pounds of overseas aid.
The Foreign Secretary will set out how the overseas development budget will be slashed to 0.3% of GDP by 2027 to fund a rise in defence spending. The move sparked an outcry when it was announced last year, with critics warning it will cost lives and damage Britain in the long run.
Funding will be pulled from thousands of projects as an estimated £6.1billion is cut. Ms Cooper will announce that 70% of all geographic support will be allocated to the most fragile and conflict affected states, including Gaza, Ukraine and Sudan.
She will also announce £24million a year will be ringfenced for projects which seek to address the underlying causes of illegal migration.
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She said last night: “At a time when conflict is raging in many parts of the world, we will maintain and protect our support to people in Ukraine, Sudan, Palestine and Lebanon, and match this with diplomatic action to prevent and resolve conflicts that are causing such devastation and humanitarian suffering.
“With less investment we need to refocus to ensure it has the most impact. Responding to desperate humanitarian crises, preventing conflict and upholding international law are not only a core part of Britain’s values and our common humanity. They are also central to Britain’s interests, because in an increasingly interconnected world, we know that instability abroad affects us back at home.”
The decision to slash overseas aid, announced by Keir Starmer in February last year, sparked a huge backlash. International Development Minister Anneliese Dodds quit in protest, warning the cuts would remove food and healthcare from desperate people.
Opponents warn cutting overseas aid from its current 0.5% of GDP will harm the UK’s ability to exercise soft power, referring to its international influence. It was 0.7% under Tony Blair, a level that continued until the Covid pandemic struck.
Former International Development Minister Gareth Thomas said: “In an already unsafe world, cutting aid risks alienating key allies and will make improving children’s health and education in Commonwealth countries more difficult.
“We risk creating more opportunities for regimes who don’t share our values. Our security depends not just on a stronger military but also on building soft power so that our soldiers aren’t needed.”
Romilly Greenhill, chief executive of Bond, the UK network for NGOs, said: “The Labour government’s decision to slash the UK aid budget last year – the steepest cut of any G7 country between 2024-26 – has already irreparably damaged the UK’s reputation on the global stage, and caused devastating consequences for millions of people around the world. Without sufficient funding to underscore its commitments, the government’s political choices will cost lives, leave us all more vulnerable to instability and crisis, and reverse hard-won progress towards a safer, healthier and more prosperous world.”
Ms Cooper insisted that investment in global health and climate action would continue, along with championing the rights of women and girls. She said: “Today we will set out how we will spend our overseas development budget more effectively than ever before — and how, by fundamentally reforming and reinvigorating our approach, we will deliver a better, more innovative development agenda that is fit for the modern world.”
She will say the UK’s focus will shift from being a donor to an investor. The Foreign Office said core funding to Education Cannot Wait, which funds education in unstable parts of the world, will continue at £80million.
And partnerships with Scottish-based charity the HALO Trust and Manchester-based Mines Advisory Group (MAG) will be expanded.
International Development Minister Jenny Chapman said: “We are spending less on international development, but we are spending it better than ever. Our commitment to tackling global challenges — hunger, disease, insecurity and conflict — has not wavered.”
Last year the PM said the cut was necessary in order to ramp defence spending to 2.7% of GDP. In her resignation letter Ms Dodds said: “Ultimately these cuts will remove food and healtcare from desperate people – deeply harming the UK’s reputation.”
