Latest news with #internationalDevelopment
Telegraph
13-05-2025
- Business
- Telegraph
Days of UK being a global charity are over, says international minister
The days of the UK being a 'global charity' are over, the Cabinet minister tasked with cutting the foreign aid budget will say today. Baroness Jenny Chapman of Darlington will for the first time publicly outline her approach to the international development brief in an appearance before a parliamentary committee. Lady Chapman was drafted in to deliver Sir Keir Starmer's plan for reducing the overseas aid budget by 40 per cent by 2027 to help fund a defence spending boost. She replaced Anneliese Dodds, who quit as development minister in February over the policy change. It is understood that Lady Chapman, a long-time ally of the Prime Minister, is looking at ending foreign aid contributions from entire countries to deliver the savings. She has told officials that a 'salami-slicing' approach to the reductions will not work, with major savings needed in aid by closing whole projects instead. Workstreams already cancelled include a gender and inclusion project supporting feminist groups in one region and a project to expand digital services access in another country. Lady Chapman will tell MPs on the International Development Committee on Tuesday that 'the days of viewing the UK government as a global charity are over'. 'We need to prioritise' She is expected to say: 'I want to start by answering a fundamental question about this Government: it is committed to international development. She will add: '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.' Negotiations are going on across Whitehall about exactly where the axe will fall in the overseas aid budget. Legal commitments to delivery already agreed will be kept. It is possible that past flagship commitments such as former Labour prime minister Gordon Brown 's global education work or former Tory climate change promises are at risk, though officials have stressed decisions on policy approach are yet to be fully signed off. The cut in the foreign aid budget from 0.5 per cent of gross national income (GNI) – an annual measure of the size of the UK economy – to 0.3 per cent must be delivered by 2027. It is helping fund Sir Keir's promise to increase the defence budget to 2.5 per cent of GDP, a move announced after Mr Trump's return to the White House led to questions about America's continued support for European security. The foreign aid budget is already well below the 0.7 per cent GNI pledge that Lord Cameron wrote into law when the Conservatives returned to power after the 2010 general election. Some specific gender and education projects have been singled out for cuts, with others now expected to be in the line of fire. The fact that about £2 billion a year is still being spent out of the foreign aid budget housing asylum-seekers in British hotels means cuts to more traditional overseas aid projects face even deeper cuts than 40 per cent. Lady Chapman was once Sir Keir's political secretary and played a central role in his successful campaign for the Labour Party leadership in 2020. She will say: '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. '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.' She will add: 'And underpinning all of this is work to develop economies, so countries can be more resilient and support themselves.'
Bloomberg
09-05-2025
- Politics
- Bloomberg
USAID's Demise Threatens a Vital Health and Climate Solution in Africa
The Trump administration's gutting of the US Agency for International Development, with 80% of its programs now canceled, is a blow for clean cookstove programs in Africa. That means more Africans will have to rely on burning wood or charcoal in their homes, driving air pollution, deforestation and greenhouse gas emissions across the continent. Clean cookstoves run on electricity, gas or smaller amounts of biomass, and switching households to less polluting cooking methods reduces harmful impacts. Health and environmental advocates for years have promoted clean cooking as an affordable, win-win solution. But the stoppage of US aid has left many projects in limbo.
