UK officials discuss fresh aid cuts to help fund higher defence spending

{"text":[[{"start":7.95,"text":"UK officials are discussing fresh cuts to the falling aid budget to help finance defence investment, sparking anxiety among MPs and charities about the government’s commitment to international development funding. "}],[{"start":20.95,"text":"The proposals to further reduce the aid budget, under discussion in Whitehall according to people familiar with the matter, come after Sir Keir Starmer last year said he would slash development spending to fund a defence spending uplift in order to counter the threat from Russia. "}],[{"start":35.6,"text":"The prime minister said the aid budget would fall from 0.5 per cent of gross national income to 0.3 per cent by 2027 in order to fund a commensurate rise in defence spending, following pressure from Donald Trump on European allies. "}],[{"start":50.75,"text":"Starmer has since vowed to “go further and faster” in raising military funding and has promised to set out details within weeks. "}],[{"start":58.4,"text":"MPs and charities have warned the prime minister not to cut the aid budget to fund it. "}],[{"start":63.35,"text":"Sarah Champion, Labour chair of parliament’s international development committee, cautioned that fresh aid cuts “would be catastrophic to the lives of the world’s poorest and our international reputation” and said she was urgently seeking clarity from the Foreign Office. "}],[{"start":78.1,"text":"Gideon Rabinowitz, policy and advocacy director at Bond, a UK network for aid NGOs, said any move to reduce spending would be “dishonest, morally indefensible, and a betrayal of Labour values”. "}],[{"start":91.5,"text":"“Further cuts would be a calculated attempt to appease anti-aid rhetoric at the expense of the world’s marginalised people,” he added. "}],[{"start":98.8,"text":"One person familiar with the matter said they did not believe the aid cuts under discussion were linked to the prime minister’s efforts to fund the Defence Investment Plan, a 10-year military funding blueprint that has been delayed for more than six months. "}],[{"start":113.39999999999999,"text":"Ministers are wrangling over how to overcome a £28bn funding gap in the Ministry of Defence over the next four years. "}],[{"start":121.24999999999999,"text":"Instead the conversation in Whitehall was about holding down aid in the medium term to help Britain meet Starmer’s ambition to spend 3 per cent of GDP on defence during the next parliament, and the Nato target to reach 3.5 per cent by 2035, the person added."}],[{"start":136.54999999999998,"text":"A government figure warned that aid cuts were among a variety of potential options, noting that “everything will be on the table given the necessity of defence investment”. "}],[{"start":146.39999999999998,"text":"They added that there was thinking in Whitehall about how to deepen co-operation between some related aspects of international development and defence."}],[{"start":null,"text":"

"}],[{"start":153.95,"text":"At Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday, Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey highlighted “rumours across Whitehall that the prime minister is planning further cuts to Britain’s international aid programme this year” and asked if Starmer could rule out the prospect. "}],[{"start":171.14999999999998,"text":"Starmer highlighted that the original aid cut was made “to fund defence spending, because we needed to increase defence spending” and stressed that some mitigating measures had been put in place. "}],[{"start":181.64999999999998,"text":"“We are committed to our overseas aid,” he said, but declined to respond to the specific question about further cuts."}],[{"start":188.54999999999998,"text":"Champion said: “The irony of course is the defence sector has always championed development as the best way to prevent wars.”"}],[{"start":196.14999999999998,"text":"This week some of Britain’s most senior former military chiefs signed a joint letter to Starmer, first reported by The Times, warning that cutting foreign aid to fund defence would compromise national security."}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":208.54999999999998,"text":"More than 50 veterans, including Field Marshal Lord David Richards, former chief of the defence staff, and Major General James Cowan, who previously commanded the British Army’s primary fighting division, said “well-targeted international aid” was “Britain’s first line of defence” to prevent instability, extremism and displacement of people that military force later had to confront at far greater cost. "}],[{"start":232.74999999999997,"text":"In March foreign secretary Yvette Cooper told MPs that allocating the reduced international development budget, which is expected to fall to £9.4bn by 2028-29, had led to “hard choices and unavoidable trade-offs”. But she insisted that the UK remained a “major player” in overseas aid. "}],[{"start":253.19999999999996,"text":"Britain has announced significant direct aid cuts to Africa and the Middle East as it trims its budget. "}],[{"start":259.34999999999997,"text":"The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office did not respond to a request for comment. "}],[{"start":271.7,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1779436334_7394.mp3"}