The British minister for international development resigned on Friday following Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s decision earlier in the week to boost defense spending by reducing the foreign aid budget. Anneliese Dodds stepped down from her roles as the international development minister and minister for women, expressing her disagreement with the decision to cut overseas aid. In a letter to Starmer, she stated that while increasing defense spending was a difficult choice, cutting the aid budget would allow China and Russia to fill the resulting gap.
On Tuesday, Starmer announced the government’s plan to raise defense spending to 2.5% of the UK’s GDP by 2027, up from the current 2.3%. He stated that the shift was necessary due to a new era of insecurity in Europe. The increased defense funding will be offset by a reduction in the foreign aid budget from 0.5% to 0.3% of GDP, which amounts to about 6 billion pounds ($7.6 billion) annually. Starmer acknowledged that the decision was “difficult and painful.”
In her resignation letter, Anneliese Dodds expressed support for the need to increase defense spending, acknowledging that the aid budget might need to contribute to funding that increase. However, she argued that the scale of the reduction was too significant, warning that it would deprive vulnerable people of food and healthcare, while also severely damaging the UK’s global reputation.
In her letter, Dodds pointed out that the government’s commitment to supporting causes such as Gaza, Sudan, Ukraine, vaccination, climate change, and rules-based systems would be impossible to uphold due to the deep cuts in the aid budget. She emphasized that the impact of these reductions would be far more significant than anticipated.
While the increase in defense spending received support from former U.S. President Donald Trump, it faced strong criticism from aid organizations. They argued that funding the defense boost by slashing development aid would harm some of the world’s most vulnerable populations and diminish Britain’s global influence.
In her letter, Dodds explained that she had refrained from resigning earlier in the week when the aid budget cut was announced because it was important for Starmer to have a unified Cabinet before his trip to Washington to meet President Trump. She added that it was only after the meeting with Trump had concluded that she felt compelled to write.
Dodds acknowledged that Starmer was not ideologically opposed to international development but expressed concern that funding the defense spending increase by slashing foreign aid was already being seen as following President Trump’s lead in reducing USAID.
In response, Starmer expressed pride in Britain’s longstanding reputation as a leader in international development, noting his hope to eventually rebuild the country’s capabilities in this area. However, he reiterated that ensuring national security must always be the government’s top priority and emphasized that he would act in the best interests of the British people.