UK 'faces new asylum crisis' as famine and war sweep the globe
Cutting international aid budgets in favour of defence spending will lead to starvation, declining education and more people fleeing to the UK, an inquiry was warned. Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper is facing a backlash from Labour colleagues over spending cuts for aid, which will drop from 0.5% of national income to 0.3% from 2027.
Ministers have announced they will prioritise aid for Gaza, Ukraine, Sudan, as well as protection for women and girls, but substantially reduce spending in other areas, with the cash funelled into defence spending instead. But the international development select committee warned the policy will lead to an increase in refugees, ensuring attempts to end the UK's asylum crisis are doomed to failure.
Committee chair Sarah Champion said that "any military person will tell you" the best line of prevention and first defence was development money, because it "keeps people safe and secure in their homes, it keeps them prosperous, it holds governments to account".
She was "very fearful" that taking this away would have "massive consequences", and lead to girls in South Sudan no longer having an education, rising polio cases and those starving going more hungry.
Ms Champion said that with 61 ongoing conflicts worldwide, and less than 12% of the global population living in a "liberal democracy", the policy shift could lead to more people arriving "on our shores to seek that sanctuary" from war-torn parts of the world.
The Foreign Secretary reminded the Commons of last year's decision to cut the international aid budget to fund higher defence spending.
She said: "Allocating a reduced budget inevitably leads to hard choices and unavoidable trade-offs. So we're focusing aid on the people and places that need it most, and we will still be a major player, and expect to be the fifth biggest funder in the world."
In response to Ms Champion, the Foreign Secretary said: "She referred to the interaction between the development work and security across the world, and I agree with her, and I do think these issues are strongly linked.
"That's one of the reasons why we've chosen to prioritise some of the fragile and conflict-affected countries, exactly because those security issues are so strongly interlinked, but also why the purpose here is to better link the direct aid that we provide but with conflict and atrocity prevention as well."
She added: "We have to both defend our security and also support international development because fundamentally those things are linked."
The funding will prioritise women and girls, to prevent violence, "championing their political and economic participation, and keeping children learning even in conflict".