In March, the UK foreign secretary Yvette Cooper made a statement to parliament setting out the government’s international aid priorities. With an aid budget significantly smaller than it was five years ago, Cooper proposed which countries and programmes would receive support.
This was the first time MPs and the public heard any spending detail after the latest round of cuts to aid.
To allow more money for defence in an increasingly volatile world, in 2025 the UK cut its aid budget from 0.5% to 0.3% of gross national income (GNI). The cut now leaves international aid spending at £9.2 billion per year. It followed a similar reduction in 2021, when the government cited post-COVID financial pressures.
