Some of the world’s poorest countries will lose out on UK aid that funds programmes such as schools and clinics, due to budget cuts set out by the foreign secretary.
The UK’s bilateral aid to African countries will be reduced by almost £900m by 2028-29 – a 56% cut – as part of more than £6bn in cuts which are funding an increase in defence spending.
Aid agencies said the cuts would be the steepest in the G7, leaving “the UK’s reputation in tatters, and a poorer, more unequal and unstable world for us all”.
Labour MPs have privately expressed scepticism that the cuts have done much to achieve their desired intention – to bolster UK military spending in an uncertain world – because of the long delay in the defence investment plan and demands for billions more in spending from military chiefs in the wake of the Iran-US conflict.
The 40% reduction in UK aid spending, which MPs voted to back last year, will mean all aid spending being cut to all G20 countries except Turkey, and the majority now focused on conflict zones, primarily Palestine, Sudan and Ukraine.
Spending will be protected this year for Lebanon, a decision signed off by officials on Wednesday night, because of the intensity of the current offensive from Israel. The overhaul means 70% of all support will be allocated to the most fragile and conflict-affected states by 2029.
Countries such as Afghanistan, Somalia and Yemen will be among those facing cuts, though Yvette Cooper, the foreign secretary, said they would still receive funding from multinational aid agencies.
Countries such as Mozambique and Pakistan will have almost all their development aid cut, replaced by partnerships for investment.
The crisis reserve for humanitarian emergencies has also been cut, though by less than expected, from £85m to £75m. “This for us is not an ideological step – it is a difficult choice in the face of international threats,” Cooper said.
But Romilly Greenhill, CEO of Bond, the UK network for NGOs said: “Africa and the Middle East, both home to some of the world’s least-developed countries, will be forced to pay the highest price because of the reduced budget.”
In its analysis of the impact assessment, Bond said the government’s own data showed the cuts would leave children, people with disabilities and older people more vulnerable across Ethiopia, Mozambique, Rwanda, Tanzania and Zambia and that fewer girls and children with disabilities will be able to go to school in South Sudan.
Cuts to programmes in Somalia, one of the world’s most unstable countries, are likely to heavily affect the access to health services for women and children.
The most significant impact will be felt across Africa, with bilateral overseas development aid due to fall from £818m in 2026 to £677m by 2029, which the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office said was part of a pivot to multilateral contributions through the World Bank and African Development Bank.
The FCDO will also phase out all funding for bilateral programmes in G20 countries – apart from a small allocation to refugee-hosting in Turkey. No direct aid will go to countries such as Brazil, India, Indonesia and South Africa.
The development minister, Jenny Chapman, said some of the poorest African nations that would feel the brunt of the cuts, such as Malawi, Mozambique and Sierra Leone, had expressed a preference for expertise partnerships with the UK, building stable financial systems and clean energy, rather than traditional aid programmes.
“I think the concern that happened a year ago around the cuts was that people thought we were doing this because we lost faith in the agenda, we were turning our backs on the world … that this was a values shift. It’s absolutely not,” she said.
“We’ve undertaken this task … in a very collaborative way with our global south partners. We’ve been very open about it. We’ve listened hard to what people have told us. We’ve been present. We’ve shown up just about everywhere we can, to have these conversations internationally.”
But some Labour MPs were critical, with Fleur Anderson, the MP for Putney, saying: “The government has on one hand increased defence spending in response to a more dangerous world, but on the other cut the investment that helps build stability before crises emerge.
“A serious approach must place development spending at the heart of global resilience and security. Without this, we are not preventing crises; we are simply waiting for them.”
Admitting she was having to make hard choices on aid, Cooper said the UK still expected to be the fifth-biggest funder in the world, but in her statement she avoided spelling out the precise level of cuts, detail revealed only in the equality impact assessments.
The FCDO has said the changes will prioritise geopolitical security and conflict – as well as funding the bigger multinational agencies, such as the vaccine programme Gavi. Funding is also being protected for the British Council and the BBC World Service.
The UK has ringfenced £240m a year until 2029, alongside billions in loan guarantees for Ukraine, as well as protecting allocations for Palestine and Lebanon at current levels, with the latter explicitly funded to “reduce the drivers of irregular migration”.
The cuts will also end aid to some major funders, including polio eradication and the Pandemic Fund.
The cost of housing asylum seekers in UK hotels – running at roughly £2bn a year – is taken from the aid budget. It means that by 2027-28, aid spending on overseas programmes is expected to reach its lowest since records began in 1970, at just 0.24% of gross national income.
Chapman said it was a wholesale overhaul of the way aid spending would now operate, after the decision to cut the aid budget despite a 0.7% target being legally enshrined. Cooper said it was the government’s intention to gradually return to the target when possible.
Adrian Lovett, UK executive director of the ONE Campaign, said: “Today’s figures lay bare the true scale of these cuts and the damage they will do. Slashing bilateral aid to Africa, where need is greatest, will have a devastating impact.
“These choices will leave millions without access to basic healthcare, education and urgent humanitarian support, and risk a resurgence of deadly diseases we’ve spent decades trying to fight.”
