New PM Andy Burnham needs urgent Foreign Office strategy to manage aid cuts, experts warn

As prime minister, Andy Burnham inherited a Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) struggling to adapt to years of aid cuts and repeated restructuring; The new government must urgently set out a long-term strategy for the UK’s role in the world, experts warn.

The incoming prime minister and new foreign minister face urgent decisions on how to deliver on foreign policy and development goals after 12 months of spending cuts and years of turmoil left the ministry overstretched and lacking clear priorities.

In a major reshuffle, energy secretary Ed Miliband is thought to replace Yvette Cooper as foreign secretary, offering permission to prioritize climate targets and a roadmap to get the UK back to spending 0.7 per cent of Gross National Income (GNI) on international aid, down from the current 0.3 per cent. Independent It was announced over the weekend.

Without a clear vision, the government will have to struggle to pursue its global goals with fewer resources, weaker institutional capacity and diminished influence abroad, experts say.

International development minister Baroness Jenny Chapman left the government on Monday night, saying cutting the aid budget was “challenging”.

“Cutting the aid budget was challenging and required a lot of soul-searching, but I firmly believe that thanks to the work we have done, we are spending the money better than ever,” he said.

But Roli Asthana of the Chatham House think tank says the damage is already obvious.

“The UK’s credibility has been damaged by sudden aid cuts that have often hit health programs hardest, particularly in Africa, where the UK has long been a mainstay on HIV, sexual and reproductive health and rights, primary care systems and humanitarian response,” says Asthana. “We need to move from splitting health budgets with salami to making informed choices.”

Outgoing Labor Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and chancellor Rachel Reeves downgraded the international development fund to 0.3 per cent of GDP to help cover the rising defense budget. This follows previous cuts under the Conservatives.

The budget slump, combined with Donald Trump’s global cuts in the US and Europe, has left some of the world’s most vulnerable countries struggling to respond to crises. This shortage is linked to the scale of the current Ebola epidemic in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the third largest epidemic in history, rising hunger and increased conflict.

Last week, it was revealed that nine African countries will cut Britain’s bilateral aid by more than 80 per cent; The government has revealed the full breakdown of its plan to reduce the aid budget by 2029.

Documentary, Hunted: Kidnapped, blackmailed and tortured for being LGBTQ+with Independent‘s chief international correspondent, Bel Trew, reveals the realities facing LGBTQ+ people in Nigeria as HIV services come under increasing pressure due to funding cuts.

According to Chatham House’s Asthana, the new cabinet’s immediate priority should be stability.

“Clarity of purpose, predictable budgets and a reset of relationships with governments and institutions based on a clear vision and prioritization framework,” he says.

He said a “reduced envelope” could still achieve meaningful results, but only if resources were concentrated where they could really shift the dial: “fragile states, essential health systems and a small number of strategic economic partnerships that build on the UK’s strengths”.

Gideon Rabinowitz, Director of Policy and Advocacy at Bond, a network of organizations working in international development, says the new government has the opportunity to re-establish the UK’s position as a trusted partner globally.

“The next prime minister and foreign secretary must recognize the role of international development in protecting the UK’s credibility abroad and building a safer, equal and more stable world,” he said.

Bond called on Burnham not to make further cuts to the aid budget and to deliver on Labor’s manifesto promise to restore spending to 0.7 per cent of GNP when financial conditions allow.

It also called on the new government to put poverty reduction and humanitarian aid at the center of development policy and to maintain the development minister’s place at the Cabinet table.

According to Bond, a fundamental shift is needed in the UK’s approach to conflicts including Gaza, Sudan and Yemen, to prioritize accountability, humanitarian access and ending arms transfers to parties involved in those wars.

Burnham has vowed to “do better” under her leadership as she seeks to win back voters who abandoned her over her party’s stance on Israel’s war in Gaza.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is also in the midst of a major internal restructuring; Officials are also reapplying for roles as the ministry reshapes its workforce after years of organizational change.

While adjusting to aid cuts and undertaking a major restructuring of the State Department are different tasks, the two are intertwined without a clear long-term strategy to guide them, according to Hannah Keenen of the Institute for Government.

Ministers need to decide what the UK should prioritize internationally, he says, and then align the department’s structure and expertise with those choices. He adds that it is necessary to define where the State Department will head and where it will step back.

He argues that the government has not yet determined how it will match its global ambitions with its existing aid budget. He says: “Once you make the decision to cut the aid budget you have to say: how are we going to spend it most effectively?”

This story was produced as part of The Independent. Rethinking Global Aid project