British International Development Minister Anneliese Dodds announced his resignation on Friday, February 28 to cut overseas aid ordered by Prime Minister Keir Starmer to increase defense spending.
“End of the day, these cuts will remove food and health care from desperate people,” Dodds said in a letter sent to Starmer on X.
On Tuesday, February 25, Starmer promised to increase UK defence spending to 2.5% of GDP by 2027, but ordered a reduction in the overseas development budget from 0.5% of gross national income to 0.3% to fund the increase.
Dodes said that despite her agreement that defense spending needs to rise as the “post-war global order collapses”, she hopes for a collective discussion on the acquisition of funds. “Instead, the tactical decision is to absorb the entire burden,” she said, referring to overseas development aid.
Starmer acknowledged in his reply that cutting aid funds was “a difficult and painful decision.” He added: “But, protecting our national security must always be the primary responsibility of any government.”
Starmer then announced that his long-time ally Jenny Chapman would take over as Minister of International Development. Dodes expressed concern that plans to assist people in Gaza, Ukraine and Sudan, as well as efforts to support climate change programs and vaccination programs, will now be jeopardized.
“Those priorities will not be maintained given the depth of the cuts,” Dodes warned. She added that the decision “could lead to the withdrawal of Britain from many African, Caribbean and western Balkan countries”.
Starmer tried to assure her, noting that his administration would “continue to protect important programs, including in the world’s worst conflict zones.” Dodes is the fourth minister to leave the Starmer cabinet since Labor won last year’s election, which ended 14 years of conservative rule.
Earlier this month, Starmer fired Junior Health Minister Andrew Gwynne for his anti-Semitic, racist and gender-based rhetoric in WhatsApp chat.
In January, anti-corruption minister Tulip Siddiq was appointed to resign during a grafting investigation in Bangladesh. In November, Louise Haigh served as Minister of Transport after pleading guilty to criminal offenses before becoming a member of parliament.
