Latest news with #UKaid
The Guardian
12 hours ago
- Business
- The Guardian
£5bn UK overseas aid cuts cannot be challenged in court, say government lawyers
Cuts of £5bn to the UK overseas aid budget cannot be challenged in the courts, government lawyers have said, even though ministers have no plan to return spending to the legal commitment of 0.7 % of UK gross national income (GNI). The assertion by Treasury solicitors that ministers are immune from legal challenge over aid cuts comes in preliminary exchanges with the aid advocacy group One Campaign. It is the first step in what could prove a highly embarrassing judicial review. In the spring statement in March the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, said she was slashing aid from 0.5% to 0.3 % of GNI. The international development minister, Jenny Chapman, recently said in a Guardian interview that this level of spending was the new normal. The 40% cut, due to be imposed by April 2027, is being billed as necessary to fund a new permanent increase in defence spending required by long-term changes to the security landscape. The previous aid cut, from 0.7 % to 0.5 %, imposed by Dominic Raab, the then Conservative foreign secretary, was billed as temporary. It was accompanied by aspirational timetables for aid spending to return to 0.7%, the target set out in the 2015 International Development Act entrenching that figure as the government commitment on overseas aid. One Campaign says that for ministers to comply with the law, they face a choice of either repealing the act, a vote that some Labour MPs will be reluctant to justify to their electorates, or to set out a credible pathway to return to the target. The campaign said it is impossible for ministers to keep legislation on the statute book that places duties upon them they intend to defy. In their legal defence – a written exchange on the legal merits between government and One Campaign prior to a potential judicial review – government lawyers claimed a section in the act shields ministers from all legal challenge. They said the act's only mechanism for securing accountability is through a ministerial report to parliament. They pointed to a section of the act on the ministerial duty to report to parliament that states the reporting duty 'does not affect the lawfulness of anything done or omitted to be done by any person'. The lawyers told One Campaign that 'this puts beyond doubt that parliament intended the courts would have no jurisdiction'. This interpretation is being contested by the Liberal Democrat peer Jeremy Purvis, who helped draft the legislation and steered it through parliament. He said ministers cannot hide behind the narrow section of the act on minister's reporting duty to claim it ousts the courts. He added: 'This government has not just missed the target but is changing it, and there is no scope to do this. 'The simple fact is the government is seeking to avoid a vote in parliament, avoid the courts and avoid all accountability for reneging on all requirements under the act.' He added the government had set out no pathway to return to 0.7 %. One Campaign says the cuts are likely to be devastating. Its director, Adrian Lovett, said there was no evidence that ministers had met the requirement to undertake impact assessments of the cuts on poverty reduction and gender equality. Ministers say they only have to make such an assessment when cuts to specific programmes are being made.
The Guardian
12-05-2025
- Business
- The Guardian
Labour to defend aid cuts, claiming UK's days as ‘a global charity' are over
The days of viewing the UK as 'a global charity' are over, the new development minister, Jenny Chapman, will tell MPs, in remarks that are likely to prove a controversial defence of the large-scale aid cuts she is about to oversee. Lady Chapman replaced Anneliese Dodds in February after Dodds refused to back Keir Starmer's decision to cut the UK aid budget from 0.5% of gross national income (GNI) to 0.3% in 2027. The move will take £6bn out of the 2023 aid budget of £15.2bn and will be the first time UK aid spending has fallen to 0.3% of GNI since 1999. On current trends, the UK will also fall behind Germany, France, Japan and Canada in terms of official development assistance as percentage of gross national income. Starmer justified the cut by saying the money was necessary to fund defence. Chapman will tell the international development select committee on Tuesday that UK aid will be focused more on sharing British expertise than spending money. She will argue that supporting economies will be at the heart of how the UK spends its overseas aid budget, arguing helping countries to grow is the surest way to reduce poverty and deliver the UK's plan for change by discouraging foreign populations from seeking to migrate. The unapologetic tone about the coming aid cuts may disturb some Labour MPs, as will her emphasis that her changes are likely to be welcomed by African countries. The Foreign Office said Chapman would say: 'Partners across Africa, from Ethiopia to Zimbabwe, want to move on from receiving aid from the UK and that the government's new approach will focus on the UK as an investor, not just a donor, and on partnering, not paternalism.' She will add that Britain will increasingly be sharing with countries the incredible expertise it has to offer, instead of direct funding. 'The days of viewing government as a global aid charity are over,' she will say in remarks that are reminiscent of the claim by Boris Johnson that the aid budget was seen as a 'giant cashpoint in the sky'. Denying the government is opposed to international aid, Chapman will tell MPs: 'We need to prioritise, be more efficient, and focus on impact above all else. We have to get the best value for money – for the UK taxpayer, but also for the people we are trying to help around the world. 'We need to draw on all the expertise the UK has to offer, such as our world-class universities, the City of London, Met Office, Land Registry, HMRC, education, and health. Sign up to First Edition Our morning email breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what's happening and why it matters after newsletter promotion 'We need to support other countries' systems where this is what they want – so they can educate their children, reform their own healthcare systems, and grow their economies in ways which last. And ultimately, exit the need for aid. 'With less to spend we have no choice. Biggest impact and biggest spend aren't always the same thing.' The cuts are made more painful since they coincide with a massive slashing back of aid by the US. As a result, global health aid is projected to decline by 40% in 2025 compared with the 2023 baseline.
