Immediate cuts to UK aid budget announced in the Spring Statement – Bond reaction

Today, Wednesday 26 March, the Chancellor, Rachel Reeves, has announced in the Spring Statement that she will start moving money immediately from the UK’s Official Development Assistance (ODA) budget to fund an increase in defence spending. The UK aid budget will start to be reduced from 25/26 to reach 0.3% by 2027.

In reaction to the announcement, Romilly Greenhill, CEO of Bond, the UK network for organisations working in international development and humanitarian assistance, said:

By choosing to rush through these cuts, the UK is turning its back on the poorest and most marginalised people globally. Instead of learning from past mistakes, the government is following in the previous government’s footsteps in making sudden and damaging reductions to UK aid and harming its reputation as a reliable partner.

This reckless and cruel decision will affect many millions of people in low- and middle-income countries, potentially putting more than 600,000 lives at risk. As we have seen with the US cuts, children will miss out on vaccines, girls will lose access to education, reproductive health clinics will close down, and essential medication will run out.

We urge the government to mitigate the impact of the cuts by maintaining UK aid at 0.5% of GNI over the next two years and dramatically reduce the amount of UK aid spent on asylum accommodation in the UK. This would help prevent a funding cliff-edge and protect vital programmes where it is needed most.

ENDS.

Notes for editors

The ONE campaign has calculated that over 600,000 fewer deaths will be averted over 5 years, due to UK cuts to Gavi, a life-saving program that provides immunisations from deadly diseases.
According to the Spring Statement (p.25) the UK aid budget is planned to be reduced to 0.48% of GNI in 2025/26, and to 0.34% of GNI in 2026/27.
Read Bond’s latest blog on the four ways the government can manage the planned UK aid cuts to limit their damage.
Read Bond’s latest briefing on how the government can limit the damage of the cuts to UK aid and development programmes.
On Tuesday 25 February, the Prime Minister announced that the UK Official Development Assistance (ODA) will be reduced by 0.2 % of GNI, to fund an increase in defence spending from 2.3 to 2.5% of GDP by 2027. This cut will bring UK ODA as a percentage of GNI to 0.3%. Read Bond’s reaction.
Bond is the UK network for organisations working in international development. Bond unites and supports a diverse network of over 350 civil society organisations from across the UK, and allies to help eradicate global poverty, inequality and injustice.
For further information or interviews, please contact Jess Salter at [email protected] or call 07392972411.