{"id":837127,"date":"2026-03-19T22:50:32","date_gmt":"2026-03-19T22:50:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/837127\/"},"modified":"2026-03-19T22:50:32","modified_gmt":"2026-03-19T22:50:32","slug":"britain-steps-back-from-africa-with-new-aid-cuts-politico","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/837127\/","title":{"rendered":"Britain steps back from Africa with new aid cuts \u2013 POLITICO"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cThese steep cuts will impact the most marginalized and left behind communities,\u201d said Romilly Greenhill, CEO of Bond, the U.K. network for NGOs, adding: \u201cThe U.K. is turning its back on the communities that need support the most.\u201d<\/p>\n

Last-minute negotiations did see some areas protected from more severe cuts, with the BBC World Service seeing a funding boost, the British Council set to receive an uplift amid its financial struggles, and the Independent Commission for Aid Impact (ICAI) \u2014 the aid spending watchdog that had been at risk of being axed <\/a>\u2014 continuing to operate with a 40 percent budget cut.<\/p>\n

Green threat<\/strong><\/p>\n

Though the move will not require legislation to be confirmed \u2014 after Prime Minister Keir Starmer successfully got the move past his MPs last year<\/a> \u2014 MPs inside his party and out have lamented the impact of the cuts, amid the ongoing threat to Labour\u2019s left from a resurgent Green Party under new leader Zack Polanski.<\/p>\n

Labour MP Becky Cooper, chair of the APPG on global health and security said that her party \u201cis, and always has been, a party of internationalism\u201d but today\u2019s plans would \u201cput Britain and the world at risk.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sarah Champion, another Labour MP who chairs the House of Commons international development committee said that the announcement confirmed that there \u201cwill be no winners from unrelenting U.K. aid cuts, just different degrees of losers,\u201d creating a \u201cdesperately bleak\u201d picture for the world\u2019s most vulnerable. \u201cThese cuts do not aid our defense, they make the whole world more vulnerable,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

Her Labour colleague Gareth Thomas, a former development minister, added: \u201cIn an already unsafe world, cutting aid risks alienating key allies and will make improving children\u2019s health and education in Commonwealth countries more difficult.\u201d<\/p>\n

The announcement may give fresh ammunition to the Greens ahead of May\u2019s local elections, where the party is eyeing up one of its best nights in local government amid a collapse in support for Labour among Britain\u2019s young, progressive, and Muslim voters.<\/p>\n

Reacting to the news that Britain will cut its aid to developing countries aimed at combatting climate change, Polanski said: \u201cAppalling and just unbelievably short-sighted. Our security here in the U.K. relies on action around the world to tackle the climate crisis.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cThese steep cuts will impact the most marginalized and left behind communities,\u201d said Romilly Greenhill, CEO of Bond,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":837128,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5018,3,4],"tags":[2740,1213,23404,331,748,1193,1194,60393,32409,2311,6178,6659,473,2438,12495,32,2266,33,393,474,36,26226,1824,81183,4884,1197,807,838,116281,6657,809,9899,1144,239845,712,811,1199,11144,16,657,15,49,17288,1764,5113],"class_list":["post-837127","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-britain","category-uk","category-united-kingdom","tag-africa","tag-americas","tag-ammunition","tag-banks","tag-britain","tag-british-politics","tag-budget","tag-chi-onwurah","tag-childrens-health","tag-climate-change","tag-conflict","tag-crisis","tag-defense","tag-department","tag-development","tag-donald-trump","tag-education","tag-elections","tag-england","tag-finance","tag-france","tag-gareth-thomas","tag-germany","tag-global-health","tag-great-britain","tag-investment","tag-keir-starmer","tag-lebanon","tag-malawi","tag-migration","tag-negotiations","tag-ngos","tag-northern-ireland","tag-sarah-champion","tag-scotland","tag-security","tag-services","tag-sudan","tag-uk","tag-ukraine","tag-united-kingdom","tag-united-states","tag-vaccines","tag-wales","tag-yvette-cooper"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/837127","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=837127"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/837127\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/837128"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=837127"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=837127"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=837127"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}