'Following Trump's footsteps': UK minister resigns over Keir Starmer's historic foreign aid cut
World: Dodds also questioned the feasibility of maintaining the government’s promised aid priorities, which include support for Gaza, Sudan, Ukraine, vaccination efforts, climate initiatives, and rules-based international systems.
Anneliese Dodds has stepped down as international development minister in response to Keir Starmer’s decision to drastically cut the UK’s overseas aid budget. The move, which aims to redirect funds towards a significant increase in defence spending, has sparked widespread criticism.
In her resignation letter, Dodds said, "Undoubtedly the postwar global order has come crashing down. I believe that we must increase spending on defence as a result; and know that there are no easy paths to doing so."
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"I stood ready to work with you to deliver that increased spending, knowing some might well have had to come from overseas development assistance [ODA]. I also expected we would collectively discuss our fiscal rules and approach to taxation, as other nations are doing," she wrote.
Dodds also questioned the feasibility of maintaining the government’s promised aid priorities, which include support for Gaza, Sudan, Ukraine, vaccination efforts, climate initiatives, and rules-based international systems.
"Yet it will be impossible to maintain these priorities given the depth of the cut; the effect will be far greater than presented, even if assumptions made about reducing asylum costs hold true," she warned.
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UK aid spending to hit historic low
The cuts will see UK aid spending fall to its lowest proportion of national income since records began. Starmer’s plan will reduce the budget from 0.5% of gross national income (GNI) to 0.3% by 2027, marking a sharp departure from Labour’s traditional commitment to international development.
In 2023, nearly £4.3bn—around 28% of the aid budget—was used by the Home Office to cover asylum seeker housing costs in the UK. Even if these expenses are halved by 2027, Andrew Mitchell estimates that overseas aid spending would still drop to just 0.23% of national income, the lowest level since records began in 1960.
The previous lowest share of national income allocated to foreign aid was 0.24% in 1999.
Widespread backlash from aid organisations
The decision has provoked strong opposition from the charity sector, with 138 organisations writing to Starmer to voice their alarm.
In their letter, the NGOs condemned the cuts as the largest reduction of UK aid in history and accused Starmer of following the US’s approach of diverting development funds to defence.
"We implore you to reverse this decision before significant damage is done to both the UK’s development and humanitarian work and its global reputation," the letter, organised by Bond, a network of UK aid groups, stated.
The cuts are expected to impact a range of critical programmes, including climate change initiatives, humanitarian relief efforts in Yemen, and funding for Gavi, the global vaccination alliance backed by Bill Gates.
(With inputs from agencies)
