Starmer facing fresh Labour backlash over international aid cuts
Keir Starmer is set to face the wrath of Labor MPs over the approval of significant cuts to overseas development assistance (ODA).
The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) is expected to make an announcement to parliament on Thursday about reducing aid allocations, more than a year after the prime minister announced plans to cut funding from 0.5 per cent to 0.3 per cent of GDP by 2027.
The ODA budget has been reduced to 0.48 per cent in 2025/26, then will fall to 0.37 per cent in 2026/27 and will be just 0.3 per cent in 2027/28.
Ahead of the announcement, former international development minister Gareth Thomas, the Labor MP for Harrow West, issued a warning to the government that it was leaving the door open for malevolent foreign powers such as China to fill the void left by the UK.
He said: “In an already insecure world, cutting aid risks alienating key allies and will make improving child health and education in Commonwealth countries even more difficult.
“We risk creating more opportunities for regimes that do not share our values.
“Our security depends not only on a stronger military, but also on building soft power so that our soldiers are not needed.”
Mr Thomas’s intervention reflects growing unease in Labor backbenchers over the policy, which leaves guaranteed funding only for Ukraine, Gaza, the UK Overseas Territories and Sudan. It is believed that protections for women and girls will also be maintained.
Chairman of the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Global Health Security, Dr. Beccy Cooper said: “Labour is and always has been a party of internationalism. When we back down from our shared commitments we lose both our power and our standing in the world. “We are a soft power superpower and we should be proud of that.
“These spending plans put Britain and the world at risk. Diseases spread faster and further when health systems in the poorest countries are not supported to build resilience. Protecting public health at home means investing in strong health systems everywhere.”
The cuts are the latest issue to spark discontent among Labor MPs in a week when former deputy prime minister Angela Rayner’s speech describing draconian plans to control immigration as “un-British” sparked another civil war within the party.
With Labor losing the crucial Gorton and Denton by-elections to the Greens and coming third behind Reform, the party’s seventh safest seat, Labor MPs are actively discussing changing the prime minister in a bid to move left.
A senior backbencher said: “The overseas aid issue is another example of how this government has moved away from Labor values.”
The party under Tony Blair had introduced the international standard that 0.7 per cent of GDP should be spent on overseas development; this target was maintained by David Cameron’s Tory government and reduced to just 0.5 per cent by Rishi Sunak following the Covid-19 pandemic.
The decision to reduce the amount further came under attack from senior Tory MPs, including former minister Andrew Mitchell as well as Labor MPs.
Previously, Independent It revealed how key figures including international development committee chair Sarah Champion and business committee chair Liam Byrne had signed a letter calling on the government to commit billions more to the budget, along with a roadmap back to 0.7 per cent.
They were forced to make cuts due to the state of public finances left behind by the Conservatives.
Independent It approached the Treasury and the FCDO for further comment.
This article was produced as part of The Independent. Rethinking Global Aid project
