London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Friday, Aug 22, 2025

MPs backed £4-billion cut to UK foreign aid budget – No, it’s not a Scrooge-like move, because charity begins at home

MPs backed £4-billion cut to UK foreign aid budget – No, it’s not a Scrooge-like move, because charity begins at home

British MPs have just voted to cut the foreign aid budget from 0.7% of Gross National Income (GNI) to 0.5%. As expected, the vote was tight, with 333 voting in favour and 298 voting against the proposal.
Personally, I am glad to see a reduction in the foreign aid budget, but some Conservative MPs joined with Labour and voted against the cut. They claimed that it would harm the UK’s standing in the world and result in disease and deaths. The fear of losing the vote led to the PM offering to reinstate the 0.7% figure once the economy has improved. As is often with Boris Johnson, this is short-term gain for long-term pain, as the commitment makes him a hostage to fortune.

I would argue that there is clear logic in the government’s case to reduce the foreign aid budget. As a result of the Covid crisis, the UK suffered its biggest recession in 300 years. Moreover, last year the government was forced to borrow nearly £300 billion, as the economy grinded to a halt. This represented the highest amount borrowed by any UK government since the Second World War. The money has to be recouped from somewhere and I would suggest that the foreign aid budget is not a bad place to start.

Moreover, I have always argued that it is trade and not aid that will pull third world countries out of poverty. Simply doling money out only creates an environment of dependency. Now as the UK can now set its own tariffs following Brexit, free-trade deals can be agreed with developing countries. Indeed, according to the government, tariff reductions have already increased trade with some developing countries by £1 billion. And long may this continue.

To understand the origins of the foreign aid issue and why it has become such a bone of contention, we have to go back a decade. David Cameron, the then UK PM, was determined to shake off the Conservatives’ image of being “the nasty party.” One of the ways he tried to do this was by making a commitment to hand over 0.7% of GNI as foreign aid. He even went so far as to make it law. However, when Cameron then encouraged the world to follow suit, his appeals fell on deaf ears, proven by the fact that other wealthy countries are still clearly not pulling their weight.

Even with the reduction to 0.5%, the UK will still be giving over £10 billion every year in foreign aid. Compare this to Japan, which only hands over around 0.3% of GNI as foreign aid, and also to the United States, which only gives 0.17%.

Indeed, the UK will still be paying more in foreign aid than Italy, Portugal and Spain combined. So let us not have any carping about the UK spending £10 billion. It is certainly not Scrooge-like, as it has been portrayed, but rather a case of the government looking after its own people when times are hard.

This move will be supported by the British public, who are used to reading stories about how foreign aid has been squandered over the years. In 2018 for example, the UK gave China £55 million to fund a number of projects, including an awareness campaign to reduce salt intake. And then we have the REALLY silly stories, such as the funding of juggling lessons in Tanzania and yoga lessons in India. I know that is all small beer in comparison to the billions on offer, but it riles the British public and has ensured that foreign aid has become a hot topic over the past decade.

Concerns have also been aired by parliamentary committees that there is no effective oversight as to how and where the foreign aid budget is spent. This can be the only reason why the UK hands over the hard-earned cash of its taxpayers to wealthy countries like India and China. Do not forget that this is the same China that is projected to be the largest economy in the world by 2050; and it is the same India that has its own space programme and has more millionaires and billionaires than the UK.

Now, before I finish, I want to say that no one, bar the odd nutcase, wants to see the foreign aid budget cut to zero. We still want to see aid going where it is needed. We just want to see more oversight and the money getting to the people who really need it. And we certainly don’t want to see it going into the pockets of charity fat cats.

Finally, we want to see other countries do their bit and not stand by idly whilst the UK taxpayer foots the bill. All we want is fairness.

It was once said that the UK can no longer be the “world’s policeman,” which is true. But it also cannot continue to be the world’s bank, especially when other wealthy nations are not pulling their weight and the UK economy has taken a battering from Covid. As the saying goes, “Charity begins at Home.”
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
After 200,000 Orders in 2 Minutes: Xiaomi Accelerates Marketing in Europe
Ukraine Declares De Facto War on Hungary and Slovakia with Terror Drone Strikes on Their Gas Lifeline
Animated K-pop Musical ‘KPop Demon Hunters’ Becomes Netflix’s Most-Watched Original Animated Film
New York Appeals Court Voids Nearly $500 Million Civil Fraud Penalty Against Trump While Upholding Fraud Liability
Elon Musk tweeted, “Europe is dying”
Far-Right Activist Convicted of Incitement Changes Gender and Demands: "Send Me to a Women’s Prison" | The Storm in Germany
Hungary Criticizes Ukraine: "Violating Our Sovereignty"
Will this be the first country to return to negative interest rates?
Child-free hotels spark controversy
North Korea is where this 95-year-old wants to die. South Korea won’t let him go. Is this our ally or a human rights enemy?
Hong Kong Launches Regulatory Regime and Trials for HKD-Backed Stablecoins
China rehearses September 3 Victory Day parade as imagery points to ‘loyal wingman’ FH-97 family presence
Trump Called Viktor Orbán: "Why Are You Using the Veto"
Horror in the Skies: Plane Engine Exploded, Passengers Sent Farewell Messages
MSNBC Rebrands as MS NOW Amid Comcast’s Cable Spin-Off
AI in Policing: Draft One Helps Speed Up Reports but Raises Legal and Ethical Concerns
Shame in Norway: Crown Princess’s Son Accused of Four Rapes
Apple Begins Simultaneous iPhone 17 Production in India and China
A Robot to Give Birth: The Chinese Announcement That Shakes the World
Finnish MP Dies by Suicide in Parliament Building
Outrage in the Tennis World After Jannik Sinner’s Withdrawal Storm
William and Kate Are Moving House – and the New Neighbors Were Evicted
Class Action Lawsuit Against Volkswagen: Steering Wheel Switches Cause Accidents
Taylor Swift on the Way to the Super Bowl? All the Clues Stirring Up Fans
Dogfights in the Skies: Airbus on Track to Overtake Boeing and Claim Aviation Supremacy
Tim Cook Promises an AI Revolution at Apple: "One of the Most Significant Technologies of Our Generation"
Apple Expands Social Media Presence in China With RedNote Account Ahead of iPhone 17 Launch
Are AI Data Centres the Infrastructure of the Future or the Next Crisis?
Cambridge Dictionary Adds 'Skibidi,' 'Delulu,' and 'Tradwife' Amid Surge of Online Slang
Bill Barr Testifies No Evidence Implicated Trump in Epstein Case; DOJ Set to Release Records
Zelenskyy Returns to White House Flanked by European Allies as Trump Pressures Land-Swap Deal with Putin
The CEO Who Replaced 80% of Employees for the AI Revolution: "I Would Do It Again"
Emails Worth Billions: How Airlines Generate Huge Profits
Character.ai Bets on Future of AI Companionship
China Ramps Up Tax Crackdown on Overseas Investments
Japanese Office Furniture Maker Expands into Bomb Shelter Market
Intel Shares Surge on Possible U.S. Government Investment
Hurricane Erin Threatens U.S. East Coast with Dangerous Surf
EU Blocks Trade Statement Over Digital Rule Dispute
EU Sends Record Aid as Spain Battles Wildfires
JPMorgan Plans New Canary Wharf Tower
Zelenskyy and his allies say they will press Trump on security guarantees
Beijing is moving into gold and other assets, diversifying away from the dollar
Escalating Clashes in Serbia as Anti-Government Protests Spread Nationwide
The Drought in Britain and the Strange Request from the Government to Delete Old Emails
Category 5 Hurricane in the Caribbean: 'Catastrophic Storm' with Winds of 255 km/h
"No, Thanks": The Mathematical Genius Who Turned Down 1.5 Billion Dollars from Zuckerberg
The surprising hero, the ugly incident, and the criticism despite victory: "Liverpool’s defense exposed in full"
Digital Humans Move Beyond Sci-Fi: From Virtual DJs to AI Customer Agents
YouTube will start using AI to guess your age. If it’s wrong, you’ll have to prove it
×