Category Archives: foreign aid

Keir Starmer Announces Foreign Aid Is Being Slashed To Boost Defence Spending

Posted on by
Reply

Britain’s foreign aid budget is to be slashed to pay for a huge boost in defence spending, Keir Starmer has announced.

The prime minister told the Commons that the government will hit its target of spending 2.5% of gross domestic product (GDP) on defence by 2027 – three years earlier than planned.

That means an extra £13.4 billion a year will be spent on defence, which Starmer said was the biggest sustained increase in the military budget since the Cold War.

It comes after Donald Trump signalled that America would no longer provide military protection for Europe and against the backdrop of the ongoing war in Ukraine.

Starmer said: “We must change our national security posture, because a generational challenge requires a generational response.”

The PM said that the amount spent on international aid will be reduced from 0.5% of GDP to 0.3% to pay for it.

“That is not an announcement I am happy to make,” he said. “I am proud of our record on overseas development.

“At times like these the defence and security of the British people must always come first – that is the number one priority of this government.”

The prime minister also told MPs that “subject to economic conditions” the UK will further increase its defence spending to 3% of GDP after the next general election.

Taking spending on the security and intelligence services into account as well as defence, the budget will amount to a 2.6% share of the economy from 2027, Starmer said.

The timing of the announcement is significant as it comes as the PM is set to fly to Washington on Wednesday to meet President Trump, who has called on other Nato countries to boost their defence spending.

Starmer said: “At moments like this in our past, Britain has stood up to be counted. It has come together and it has demonstrated strength.

“That is what the security of our country needs now and it is what this government will deliver.”

Lib Dem leader Ed Davey said: “The Liberal Democrats fully support raising defence spending to 2.5% of GDP as a minimum, as quickly as possible. I hope today’s announcement will mean the rapid reversal of the Conservative Party’s shortsighted and irresponsible decision to cut our Armed Forces by 10,000 troops.

“But given the threat to our security posed by Putin and Trump, the government must go further and bring all parties together to agree an increase to 3% of GDP as soon as possible.

“By cosying up to Putin, Donald Trump is threatening to betray not only our Ukrainian allies, but the British people and the whole of Europe too. Now it is up to the UK to stand up and lead in Europe, for the safety and security of us all.”

Share Button

Theresa May Attacks Boris Johnson’s £4bn Cut To Overseas Aid

Posted on by
Reply

Theresa May has attacked Boris Johnson’s cut to overseas aid spending. 

The Tory former PM said the spending cut would damage the UK’s global reputation and make it more difficult to achieve a deal at the Cop26 climate summit in Glasgow this year.

Johnson is refusing to give MPs a vote on his decision to slash aid spending from the legally mandated 0.7% of national income to 0.5%, with Tory rebels believing they have a clear majority to reverse the cut.

The prime minister has also rejected pleas from Commons Speaker Lindsay Hoyle to allow MPs to vote on the decision.

In an emergency debate on Tuesday just two days before the G7 summit of world leaders, Tory rebels criticised the government over the cut and how it has handled the row.

May said the global fund to end modern slavery, an issue key to her prime ministerial legacy, was having its funding cut by 80% as a result of the government’s policy.

She also argued that slashing spending would run counter to Britain’s interests and “have a devastating impact on the poorest in the world and it will damage the UK”.

On the impact on the UK’s world standing, she said: “They (people) listen to us because of what we do, they listen to us because of how we put our values into practice.

“The damage it does to our reputation means that it will be far harder for us as a country to argue for change that we want internationally, that is across the board, including at Cop26 and also including setting out and putting into place the ambitions of the integrated review.

“I only hope that modern slavery is still there on the G7 agenda as it has been in the past.”

Former international development secretary Andrew Mitchell, who is leading the rebellion, told MPs the aid spending cut was an “unethical and unlawful betrayal”.

He said: “The way the government is behaving strikes at the heart of our parliament. 

“It is precisely because the government fears they would lose that they are not calling one (a vote). That is not democracy. 

“I want to argue to the House this afternoon that what the government is doing is unethical, possibly illegal, and certainly breaks our promise. 

“It’s not proper and it’s fundamentally un-British and we shouldn’t behave in this way.” 

Mitchell also repeated his insistence that trying to win favour in so-called “red wall” working class areas by cutting overseas aid spending was “very patronising” to those voters. 

The cut also breaks a pledge to keep the 0.7% target in the 2019 Tory general election manifesto, which helped propel Johnson to an 80-seat parliamentary majority.

“All 650 of us in this House elected at the last election promised to stand by the 0.7%,” Mitchell said.

Responding for the government, Treasury minister Steve Barclay said the cuts were needed given the huge scale of government borrowing to pay for Covid support measures such as the furlough scheme.

He questioned how the rebels proposed raising the £4.3bn required to reverse the cut.

“Leaving the next generation vulnerable to the degree of fiscal threat that would be entailed with a high debt level is not itself morally sound,” Barclay said.

“At the same time, loading ourselves with more debt now might well damage our ability to spend on aid later.”

Share Button