Cross-party group of MPs express ‘deep concern’ over cuts to UK’s aid budget
A cross-party group of MPs has written to Keir Starmer expressing “deep concern” about cuts to the UK’s aid budget, as ministers brace for a potentially stormy debate on Foreign Office spending on Wednesday.
The international development committee warned of the damage the cuts may cause in a letter to the prime minister written by its Labour chair, Sarah Champion. The move will undermine the UK’s soft power and have “dire consequences” for the world’s poorest, it claims.
It comes as backbenchers prepare to use a debate on the Foreign Office budget to highlight their opposition to Starmer’s decision, which he announced last week as a way to pay for higher defence spending.
Champion said: “I’m writing to you to express my committee’s deep concern regarding the government’s decision to reduce Official Development Assistance (ODA) … our development spend protects not only the most vulnerable across the world but also the UK’s security, not least by helping to prevent conflict in the first place.
“Cutting ODA further to fund increased defence spending is a false economy that makes us less safe.”
She added: “This brutal further cut to ODA risks undermining our soft power, as well as years of progress in areas such as healthcare, education, clean water and sustainable development. It will have dire consequences for millions of marginalised people across the world.”
Last week Starmer announced that Britain would “fight for peace in Europe” with a generational increase in defence spending paid for by slashing the foreign aid budget.
The defence budget will rise to 2.5% of GDP by 2027 – three years earlier than planned – and an ambition to reach 3%. To accommodate the move, the international aid budget will be cut from 0.5% to 0.3% of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2027, Starmer said.
Champion has been one of the most vocal opponents of the aid cut, which prompted the resignation of Anneliese Dodds as international development minister.
But Champion’s letter was written on behalf of the committee, which includes two Conservative and two Liberal Democrat MPs, suggesting opposition to the move is building across the Commons.
Wednesday’s debate will not entail MPs voting on the aid cuts, but a series of speeches from the backbenches are expected to give a sense of the angst being felt about the decision, especially on the Labour benches.
Champion asked the prime minister to answer a series of questions about the decision, which was taken so quickly that Dodds was given just a few days’ notice before it was announced to the Commons.
In her letter, Champion asks whether the cut will be implemented all at once or staggered over several years; whether hotel costs for asylum seekers in Britain will continue to count as international aid; what the impact will be for staff numbers at the Foreign Office; and what will happen to frozen Russian assets in the UK.
