LONDON (Reuters) – British international development minister Anneliese Dodds resigned on Friday over Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s decision to slash the foreign aid budget in order to boost defence spending.
Starmer on Tuesday announced he would boost annual defence spending, in a signal to U.S. President Donald Trump that Britain could boost Europe’s security – an increase that will be funded by cutting the overseas development budget from 0.5% of GDP to 0.3%.
Humanitarian charities said they were “stunned” and “appalled” by the decision, warning it would damage UK influence and have a devastating impact on those they support.
Dodds said in a resignation letter posted on X that the depth of the cuts would make it impossible to maintain Britain’s development priorities, including in Gaza, Sudan and Ukraine.
“Ultimately, these cuts will remove food and healthcare from desperate people – deeply harming the UK’s reputation,” she wrote in the letter.
“I know you have been clear that you are not ideologically opposed to international development. But the reality is that this decision is already being portrayed as following in President Trump’s slipstream of cuts to USAID.”
Britain’s foreign office, which oversees development, did not immediately comment.
(Reporting by Catarina Demony; writing by Sachin Ravikumar, editing by William James)
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