ReutersBill Gates has joined a chorus of international development voices criticizing the government for cutting billions of dollars in overseas aid spending in the budget.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves on Wednesday chose not to renew the Conservative Party’s proposed £2.5 billion top-up for Britain’s overseas aid budget, which was intended to compensate for the cost of housing refugees and asylum seekers. huge amounts of foreign aid.
The British Treasury announced that the government will spend 13.3 billion pounds on overseas development assistance this fiscal year, achieving the goal of aid expenditure accounting for 0.5% of national income.
Mr. Gates, the billionaire co-chairman of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, called the budget “a disappointing outcome for the world’s most vulnerable people.”
The Conservative Party’s foreign aid supplement plan has been implemented for two years, ensuring that aid spending will account for 0.58% of national income in 2023, about 15.3 billion pounds.
Last year, the Home Office spent £4.3 billion on asylum seekers in the UK – more than a quarter of the foreign aid budget.
In the so-called “red book” setting out budget details, the Treasury acknowledged that the government was directing “an increasing amount” of overseas aid to refugees and asylum seekers, which had a “significant impact” on overseas aid spending.
The Treasury said: “The government is committed to ensuring asylum costs fall and has taken steps to reduce the asylum backlog and end the use of expensive hotel accommodation.”
“These plans should create more space [Official Development Assistance] Budget for our overseas international development priorities.
International aid charities are dismayed by nearly £2bn cuts to Britain’s overseas aid priorities.
After the news was announced, Gates said that the UK’s “withdrawal” of its overseas aid role “puts all of us at greater risk.”
“Today’s budget outcome is disappointing for the world’s most vulnerable people,” he said in a statement.
“I want to see the UK chart a path back to its commitments and demonstrate this global vision with real action.”
Gideon Rabinowitz of the British NGO Bond Network accused the government of making “short-sighted decisions” that mean “UK aid will fall significantly this year”.
“We must support asylum seekers, but funding should come from dedicated budgets and not at the expense of other marginalized communities around the world,” he said.
Hannah Bond, co-chief executive of ActionAid UK, said she was “deeply disappointed” by the decision.
She said: “After the previous government vigorously undermined programs designed to tackle gender inequality, Labor is following in their footsteps and further abandoning women and girls when they need it most.”
Shadow foreign secretary Andrew Mitchell calls cuts to international aid budgets ‘shameful, immoral and wrong’
“Labor MPs should not support this approach,” the Conservative MP added.
Labor MP Sarah Champion, chair of the parliamentary international development committee, said she was “relieved” that the foreign aid budget would no longer pay for Home Office housing for asylum seekers.
But she called on the government to be “more ambitious” in foreign aid.
