One year ago today, the Prime Minister announced in Parliament his decision to break Labour's manifesto pledge and cut the UK's Official Development Assistance (ODA) budget from 0.5% to 0.3% by 2027 – set to be the steepest reduction of any G7 country.
As 93 leaders of the UK INGO sector, we write to mark this grim anniversary and the devastating impacts of the cuts in the last year – and urge the UK government to restore the UK's position as a principled, reliable and ambitious development partner.
Over the past year, we have witnessed first-hand the consequences of these short-sighted cuts. Compounded with cuts by the US, France, Germany and others, these cuts mean fewer families in conflict zones able to access shelter, food and water, and fewer children able to go to school. Lifesaving health and reproductive programmes in some of the world's most fragile and conflict-affected countries across Africa and Asia are at risk of closure. The UK government's own Equalities Impact Assessment of the 2025/26 cuts confirms that women and girls, people with disabilities, children and people affected by conflict, will be hardest hit.
The UK INGO sector has long worked in partnership with the UK government to support the lives of millions of people worldwide. However, these cuts were made without consultation with sector experts, who play a vital role in delivering the legal objective of UK aid: poverty reduction. Cuts to programmes and staffing within the FCDO have also been pushed through without adequate transparency on the strategy and rationale behind these cuts. This lack of clarity has eroded trust in the government: including among local partners with whom vital partnerships have been damaged.
While we acknowledge the fiscal pressures at hand, we strongly believe that no government should balance its books on the backs of the world's most marginalised people. UK aid represents a tiny proportion of public spending, yet delivers significant return on investment by preventing diseases before they become pandemics, reducing conflict and crises that force people to flee, and strengthening global stability to protect people in the UK and around the world. The savings from cutting UK aid are small, but the consequences are devastating – both for marginalised communities worldwide, and for the British taxpayer.
We know the UK public are concerned about global insecurity and instability and want to see us working with other countries to build a safer and more sustainable world. After multiple broken manifesto promises and U-turns, the British public are looking to the UK to do its fair share in the fight against global poverty and insecurity – not delivering the steepest reduction in its aid budget in the G7.
This decision will arguably have the most damaging global consequences of any this UK government will make, and will shape Labour's legacy for decades to come unless the government steps up to reverse the cuts and ensure the UK aid budget is focussed on global poverty reduction.
With a significantly reduced UK aid budget, the government must step up its ambitions around global financial sector reform and help build a fairer economic system that enables lower income countries to invest in their own sustainable development. The UK's upcoming G20 leadership offers a critical window to advance this agenda, rebuild damaged partnerships, and reestablish the UK as a trusted global partner.
One year on from the announcement of the UK aid cuts, we urgently call on the UK government to set out a plan to reverse these cuts, ensure poverty reduction is at the heart of its development agenda, and play its part in making the global system fair for all.
