Anneliese Dodds quits as international development minister over foreign aid cuts

International Development Minister Anneliese Dodds has quit the UK Government after the foreign aid budget was slashed to pay for defence spending.

Aberdeen-born Dodds was a key member of Keir Starmer's government.

In her resignation letter, she said "the postwar global order has come crashing down" and that though she agrees with increased defence spending, the decision to have the Overseas Development Assistance (ODA) programme "absorb the entire burden" will have a domino effect and "remove food and healthcare from desperate people".

Earlier this week Starmer announced aid funding would be reduced from 0.5 per cent of gross national income (GNI) to 0.3 per cent to allow more money to go towards defence.

He said this was not a decision he "wanted to make", but said there was "no driver of migration and poverty like conflict".

Writing to the prime minister, Dodds – who was also the minister for women and equalities – stated that she had waited until Starmer completed his visit to Donald Trump in the White House.

She told Starmer: "It was imperative that you had a united cabinet behind you as you set off for Washington. Your determination to pursue peace through strength for Ukraine is one I share. It is for that reason that I am only writing to you now that your meeting with president Trump is over, and four days after you informed me of your decision to cut Overseas Development Assistance to 0.3 per cent of GNI. 

"Undoubtedly the postwar global order has come crashing down. I believe that we must increase spending on defence as a result and know that there are no easy paths to doing so. 

"I stood ready to work with you to deliver that increased spending, knowing some might well have had to come from ODA. I also expected we would collectively discuss our fiscal rules and approach to taxation, as other nations are doing. Even three per cent may only be the start, and it will be impossible to raise the substantial resources needed just through tactical cuts to public spending. 

"These are unprecedented times, when strategic decisions for the sake of our country's security cannot be ducked. Instead, the tactical decision was taken for ODA to absorb the entire burden."

Dodds, the MP for Oxford East, continued: "You have maintained that you want to continue support for Gaza, Sudan and Ukraine; for vaccination; for climate; and for rules-based systems. Yet it will be impossible to maintain these priorities given the depth of the cut; the effect will be far greater than presented, even if assumptions made about reducing asylum costs hold true.

"The cut will also likely lead to a UK pull-out from numerous African, Caribbean and Western Balkan nations at a time when Russia has been aggressively increasing its global presence. It will likely lead to withdrawal from regional banks and a reduced commitment to the World Bank; the UK being shut out of numerous multilateral bodies; and a reduced voice for the UK in the G7, G20 and in climate negotiations. All this while China is seeking to rewrite global rules, and when the climate crisis is the biggest security threat of them all. 

"Ultimately, these cuts will remove food and healthcare from desperate people deeply harming the UK's reputation. 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."

Responding to the news, Save the Children UK head Moazzam Malik said the government had "lost a highly principled and highly effective minister" and called on the Labour administration to "act in the UK's national interest" and reverse the aid cut.

In a reply to Dodds, Starmer said: "The decision I have taken on the impact on ODA was a difficult and painful decision and not one I take lightly. We will do everything we can to return to a world where that is not the case and to rebuild a capability on development. However, protecting our national security must always be the first duty of any government and I will always act in the best interests of the British people."