Anneliese Dodds, the British minister responsible for international development, announced his resignation after the decision of Labor Storer Keir Starmer to cut funds for foreign aid and development cooperation in order to increase the costs for the defense of the United Kingdom. Dodds said in a letter that the cuts “would remove food and health care” to people in serious difficulties “profoundly damaging the reputation of the United Kingdom”.
Defense money
Tuesday Starmer has announced that he wants to increase the annual expenditure for the army, in a signal to the President of the United States Donald Trump that Great Britain can strengthen Europe’s safety. The increase will be financed by cutting the budget for foreign development from 0.5 to 0.3 percent of GDP.
Humanitarian associations gave themselves “stunned” and “upset” by the decision, warning that it would damage the influence in the world of London and that it would have had a devastating impact on poor countries.
Resignation
In a letter of resignation published on X, Dodds said that the depth of the cuts would have made it impossible to maintain the development priorities of the United Kingdom, including Gaza, Sudan and Ukraine. “Ultimately, these cuts will remove food and health care from desperate people, deeply damaging the reputation of the United Kingdom,” he wrote in the letter.
“I know that she was clear that she does not ideologically oppose international development. But the reality is that this decision has already been painted as a following in the wake of cuts to the USI of President Trump”.
