Prime Minister discusses the UK aid cuts at Parliament’s Liaison Committee – Bond reaction
Today, Tuesday 8 April, the Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer, spoke to Parliament’s Liaison Committee and answered questions on the UK aid cuts.
During the session, he repeated that he “didn’t want to make the decision” to cut the UK aid budget and that his vision for the UK’s development work was for “a healthier thriving world where we reduce conflict, tension, corruption and ill health.”
In reaction to the Prime Minister, Romilly Greenhill, CEO of Bond, the UK network for organisations working in international development and humanitarian assistance, said:
The Prime Minister says that he wants “a healthier, thriving world, where we reduce conflict, tension, corruption and ill health,” cutting the UK aid budget will not make this possible, undermining every one of these goals. We are also yet to see the impact assessment for these cuts.
It is encouraging to hear the Prime Minister’s intention to reduce expensive bills for housing asylum seekers in unsuitable hotels, but we are deeply concerned that he did not commit to ensuring any recovered funds are reinvested back to the UK aid budget. It is vital that we support asylum seekers, but this funding should come from a separate budget rather than being diverted from the heavily limited UK aid budget.
We urge the Prime Minister to honour his manifesto promise and take meaningful steps to restore the UK’s credibility as a reliable, ambitious and equitable development partner. Along with returning the UK aid budget to previous levels, this means working with international partners to tackle the global debt crisis and pushing for urgent reforms to create a fairer, more inclusive international financial system.
ENDS.
Notes for editors
- 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.
- 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, including reducing spending to BII.
- 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.
