Charities appalled by UK cut to aid budget to fund defence spending

By Catarina Demony

LONDON (Reuters) - Humanitarian charities said they were "stunned" and "appalled" by Britain's decision to cut its international aid budget to boost defence spending, warning it would damage UK influence and have a devastating impact on those they support.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on Tuesday he would increase Britain's annual defence spending to 2.5% of GDP by 2027, with a target to hit 3% at a later date, a move he said was needed to provide Ukraine and Europe with support in a "new era".

To fund the move, Britain will cut its aid budget from 0.5% of gross national income, to 0.3%.

David Miliband, a former foreign secretary from the governing Labour Party and now head of the International Rescue Committee charity, said the move was "a blow to Britain's proud reputation as a global humanitarian and development leader".

Britain is the fifth largest international aid donor, giving over 19 billion dollars in 2023, according to data from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). The United States tops the ranking, followed by Germany, European Union institutions and Japan.

This week Starmer will meet U.S. President Donald Trump, whose advisor Elon Musk has boasted of gutting Washington's own foreign aid agency by "feeding USAID into the wood chipper".

"To appease Trump, he will cut aid to its lowest level in a generation," said Nick Dearden, director of campaign group Global Justice Now. "It is a day of shame for Britain."

United Nations children's agency UNICEF said the British aid cut would "undoubtedly risk lives". Oxfam accused Starmer of "bending to populist pressures".

CHANGING COURSE

Britain used to devote 0.7% of its gross national income to overseas development before it was cut by the previous Conservative government to 0.5% in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Starmer's government had pledged to restore the aid budget back to 0.7% before it sharply changed course.

"This is a short-sighted and appalling move," said Romilly Greenhill, CEO of London-based Bond, a network for humanitarian organisations. "Slashing the already diminished UK aid budget to fund an uplift in defence is a reckless decision."

ActionAid described it as a political choice that could have devastating consequences for people affected by humanitarian crisis, such as in Gaza, the Democratic Republic of Congo and even Ukraine.

But Starmer's announcement on aid was met with little immediate political criticism in the House of Commons. Sarah Champion, Labour lawmaker and chair of the International Development Select Committee, was a rare voice opposing the move, saying aid spending could prevent wars.

"Aid vs defence isn't a realistic narrative for keeping the world safe," she said.

(Reporting by UK bureau; Writing by Catarina Demony; Editing by Kate Holton and Peter Graff)