UK aid cuts draw criticism from charities

The UK government faced growing criticism from non-governmental organisations after details showed deep cuts to overseas aid budgets for countries in Africa and Asia, in some cases by up to 90 percent.

Analyses of the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office's annual accounts, released Thursday, found that bilateral aid spending will be cut by 43 percent over the next three years. The reduction is equivalent to more than £1 billion, or $1.3 billion.

The development charities umbrella group Bond calculated that some of Africa's lowest-income countries, including Malawi and Mozambique, will see UK aid fall by 90 percent by 2029 compared with pre-cut levels. Bond also said Afghanistan and Myanmar would see aid cut by nearly 40 percent and 30 percent respectively in the financial year to 2026-27.

Bond said the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office had pledged to prioritise fragile and conflict-affected states when reducing budgets, but that other war-scarred countries including Syria, Somalia and South Sudan were also set to be severely affected.

Outgoing Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced the cuts last year to increase defence spending. The decision prompted the resignation of Britain's international development minister.

Anna Roberts, executive director of Burma Campaign UK, said British aid to Myanmar saves lives and said the cuts would kill people. She accused Starmer and Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper of failing people in Myanmar by cutting aid instead of cutting off arms and money to the country's military rulers.

Jean McLean of Oxfam GB said the government had taken a wrecking ball to the aid budget at a time of rising conflict, humanitarian crises, hunger and climate pressures. She said the cuts would affect families facing starvation, children denied healthcare and education, and communities trying to survive conflict and climate disasters.

Plan International UK called the cuts unconscionable. Save the Children UK said Britain should increase its international leadership rather than retreat.

Several groups urged Andy Burnham, who is set to replace Starmer as prime minister on Monday, to act. Adrian Lovett, head of the Africa-focused One Campaign, said a new prime minister had a chance to change direction and urged Burnham not to forget the Global South.

The UK made spending 0.7 percent of gross national income on overseas aid a statutory duty. The Conservative government reduced that to 0.5 percent in 2020 after the Covid pandemic. Starmer announced in February 2025 that the level would be reduced further to 0.3 percent of gross national income to help raise defence spending to 2.5 percent of the economy by 2027.

Aid minister Jenny Chapman defended the move Thursday, saying the government was not turning away from global challenges and was making every pound of UK development spending work harder.