Keir Starmer has been severely criticised after announcing he is cutting the UK’s foreign aid budget to boost defence spending.
The prime minister declared he would now be increasing the defence budget from its current rate of 2.3% of gross domestic product (GDP) to 2.5% by 2027, three years earlier than planned.
It comes after Donald Trump said Europe could no longer lean on the US for military protection.
The US president is also triggering wider security concerns as he seems to be giving in to Vladimir Putin’s demands just to end the Ukraine war.
But Starmer confirmed he would be reducing the amount spent on international aid from 0.5% of GDP to 0.3% to pay for this bump in defence.
The prime minister said he was not “happy” to make this announcement, but noted that “at times like these the defence and security of the British people must always come first”.
Labour MP Sarah Champion, chair of the Commons international development committee, said: “I urge the prime minister to rethink today’s announcement. Cutting the aid budget to fund defence spending is a false economy that will only make the world less safe.
“The prime minister said today that he was ‘proud’ of the UK’s pioneering work on overseas development. I am bitterly disappointed to see the Government abandon this agenda, not only pulling the rug from under some of the world’s most vulnerable people but endangering our long-term security.”
Similarly, Labour MP David Taylor – who is also the founder of Labour Campaign for International Development – said that he welcomed the boost to defence spending, but was “pained to see the aid budget cut”.
He said he had asked the PM to speak to him and Labour colleagues to discuss alternative means of funding development finance.
John McDonnell – a suspended Labour MP – attacked the measures on X.
He wrote: “People will understand an increase in defence spending to pay for peacekeeping in Ukraine but to cut spending on tackling famine & poverty in the poorest areas of the world will cost lives. The Chancellor’s fiscal rules are undermining this government’s moral standing & purpose.”
Former foreign secretary and CEO of the International Rescue Committee, David Miliband, also slammed the announcement.
He said it was a “blow to Britain’s proud reputation as global humanitarian and development leader”.
“The UK aid budget is famed for its value for money, innovation and impact for those in the greatest need around the world,” the former Labour MP said, adding: “Now is the time to step up and tackle poverty, conflict and insecurity, not further reduce the aid budget.”
Charities hit out at the prime minister, calling the decision “reckless” and “short-sighted”.
Save the Children UK’s CEO, Moazzam Malik, slammed the news, writing on X: “We are stunned by this decision to cut the aid budget in order to increase military spending. It is a betrayal of the world’s most vulnerable children and the UK’s national interest.”
He said this “signals a withdrawal from efforts to tackle climate change, global poverty and inequality and conflict and humanitarian needs”.
He warned it would damage efforts to address global health, and warned it would “add to economic instability internationally”.
“The impacts will have direct consequences for children and families in the UK as well as around the world.”
Malik continued: “Other countries will watch the UK’s decision and are likely to follow suit in reducing commitments to international collaboration.
“It will undermine aspirations to build a ‘rules based order’ that is so essential for the UK’s long-term security and prosperity. It will make the world a more dangerous place for children now and in the future.”
Malik also pointed out that the move overshadows Starmer’s own promises to defend Ukraine.
“Earlier this week, the prime minister promised to ‘stand with Ukraine’. Now he’s serving notice on the support needed by the country’s children, who have been forced from their homes, seen their schools bombed and lived in fear for three years,” the Save the Children CEO said.
The CEO of Oxfam GB, Halima Begum, said: “We understand that defence spending has become a major concern in our fast-changing world.
“However, cutting the already lean aid budget is a false economy and will only increase division, and amounts to a betrayal of the world’s most vulnerable people.”
She claimed it is a “false dichotomy to pit international cooperation to tackle poverty against national security interests in order to avoid tax increases.”
″“These cuts make a mockery of the Labour Government’s stated promise to stand in partnership with the Global South and the pledge it made to the British people in its manifesto,” Begum said.
Similarly, the CEO of Bond, the UK network for organisations working in international development, Romilly Greenhill said: “This is a short-sighted and appalling move by both the PM and Treasury.
“Slashing the already diminished UK aid budget to fund an uplift in defence is a reckless decision that will have devastating consequences for millions of marginalised people worldwide.”
She claimed Britain was “following in the US’s footsteps” and that undermine the UK’s global goals as well as weaken its national security interests.
The announcement comes as less than 48 hours before Starmer is due to meet Trump in Washington.
The US president has been calling for Nato member states in particular to hike their defence spending, even claiming it should be hiked to 5%.
Greenhill continued: “Tragically, this cut is even deeper than the last Conservative government’s and will destroy this Labour government’s reputation, tearing to shreds their previous manifesto commitments to rebuild the UK’s international reputation as a reliable global partner.”
And CARE International UK’s CEO Helen McEachern’s statement said: “Not only does this decision do irreparable harm to his government’s reputation, but it also ignores the vital role aid plays in making the UK and our world, safer, healthier, and more sustainable for everyone.|