3 h. ago Trump's permanent USAID cuts slam humanitarian programs worldwide: 'We are being pushed off a cliff'

Health groups and non-governmental organizations have expressed surprise and outrage after the Trump administration’s decision to cut 90% of USAID’s foreign aid contracts

Politics

7 h. ago Former Scottish Labour first minister Jack McConnell blasts Keir Starmer over foreign aid cuts

Jack McConnell urged the Prime Minister to rethink slashing the international development budget cut from 0.5 per cent of gross national income to 0.3 per cent to increase defence spending.

Politics

7 h. ago Foreign aid budget cut will cost lives, warns Labour former first minister

Lord Jack McConnell has urged Number 10 to rethink the decision.

Events

11 h. ago Aid cut will have ‘devastating impact’ on world’s poorest, church leaders warn

The Prime Minister recently announced the foreign aid budget will be cut in order to fund an increase in defence spending.

Events

11 h. ago Labour MPs hammer Defence Secretary John Healey on foreign aid cuts at bruising meeting as he vows withdrawal of cash will be slow

A group of a dozen Labour MPs - mostly with backgrounds in development - led a backlash against the plans in the meeting with Defence Secretary John Healy.

Economics

12 h. ago Would be ‘very, very odd’ for UK to act unilaterally over Chagos, says minister

It comes as Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer is in Washington for talks with the US president.

Politics

12 h. ago Donald Trump's decisions could see mystery deadly Congo virus 'take over the US'

Cuts to the US foreign aid budget could leave the country at risk of new diseases due to a lack of information from local sources, an expert has warned, as Trump and Musk take the axe to USAID contracts

Politics

13 h. ago How the biggest winner from UK and US foreign aid cuts will be China

As countries lose vital foreign aid from the UK and US, some fear governments could turn to China to seek funding packages saddled with unsustainable debts

Politics

13 h. ago Cutting foreign aid will play into Putin’s hands, former minister warns Starmer

PM accused of abandoning ‘soft power’, four years after he spoke in its defence, by former deputy foreign secretary

Politics

17 h. ago Readers' letters: UK Government plumbs new depths with international aid betrayal

A reader suggests cutting international development aid to boost defence spending is a betrayao of the world’s most marginalised people

Politics

23 h. ago Trump administration cutting 90% of USAID foreign aid contracts, documents show

The Trump administration says it is eliminating more than 90% of the U.S. Agency for International Development’s foreign aid contracts and $60 billion in overall U.S. assistance around the world

Politics

27 h. ago Rory Stewart says Starmer and Trump have inflicted ‘unimaginable damage’ over foreign aid cuts

Labour prime minister and US president accused of harming international security and the climate

Events

28 h. ago Chagos deal will not go ahead if Trump rejects it, Lammy says

The Foreign Secretary said he still believed the agreement to cede the British Indian Ocean Territory to Mauritius was the ‘best deal’.

Politics

35 h. ago ‘Like being on the Titanic’: US aid workers dread bleak future after Trump cuts

Trump’s order to stop work on aid projects around the globe has left dedicated staff shocked and demoralisedIn a village in Lesotho, a small country in southern Africa, Sasha teaches hundreds of children at a local primary school. A significant part of her work as an education volunteer at the US Peace Corps is to educate her students about HIV prevention. Almost a quarter of Lesotho’s 2.3 million population lives with HIV, giving it the second-highest level of HIV infection in the world.At the beginning of February, Donald Trump halted virtually all US foreign aid. The 90-day pause left many agencies scrambling to follow the new guidance, affecting programs such as the one Sasha works for. In Lesotho, she and other volunteers work to mitigate the effects of HIV/Aids stigma through grant-funded programs like a soccer camp. All of that stopped. Continue reading...

Politics

35 h. ago Starmer’s cuts are a huge mistake – foreign aid is an investment, not an expense | Halima Begum

At the height of the cold war, the west advanced its soft power through aid and development spending. If we cut that now, who will fill the vacuum?Halima Begum is the chief executive of Oxfam GBThe savagely deep cuts that Keir Starmer has announced to the international aid budget make a mockery of the pledge his party made to the British people in its manifesto. Then, it promised to restore development spending at the level of 0.7% of gross national income “as soon as fiscal circumstances allow”. On Tuesday the prime minister stood in front of parliament and announced that he will cut it from 0.5% to 0.3% of GDP. In the same manifesto, Labour made a commitment to “rebuild Britain’s reputation on international development with a new approach based on genuine respect and partnership with the global south”. This week, the government turned its back on it.Of course, I understand the argument that defence spending has to be increased, but cutting our aid budget still further when governm...

Politics

38 h. ago Keir Starmer says 'dangerous new era' forced decision for 'biggest rise' in defence spending since the Cold War

The Prime Minister said ‘extremely difficult and painful choices’ would be needed to reach the spending goal, including a cut to foreign aid

Events

40 h. ago Why Trump, not Starmer, is to blame for UK cutting foreign aid to boost defence spending

The peace dividend of ‘Pax Americana’ is over and the UK and other European countries have no choice but to rearm

Politics

47 h. ago Keir Starmer warns Britain is entering an 'era of hard power' over foreign aid

EXCLUSIVE: The Prime Minister announced the Government will meet its manifesto pledge to raise the military budget to 2.5 per cent of GDP two years early.

Events

51 h. ago 'At this once in a generation moment, we must step up on defence and security'

Deputy PM Angela Rayner said tough choices meant the overseas aid budget had to be cut - but vowed 'this government will do everything we can to return to a world where that is not the case'

Events

51 h. ago This is a hard choice. We believe in foreign aid – but we have to make cuts. We must keep the UK safe | David Lammy

Putin’s Russia is a threat to all Europe, including the UK. Vital aid work will be hit as we spend more on defence, but we must deal with the world as it isThere are moments in history when everything turns, but the extent of change is not perceived until later when the fog has cleared. These are hinge points that require clear leadership and bold action. In the late 1940s, my Labour predecessor and hero Ernie Bevin, alongside Clement Attlee, saw through the fog when they led Britain into Nato and the UN, and secured the development of Britain’s nuclear deterrent. In the 1960s, Harold Wilson saw through the paranoia of the cold war, refusing Lyndon Johnson’s request to send British troops to Vietnam. In the 1990s, Tony Blair understood that unless we stopped the president of Serbia, Slobodan Milošević, there would be no peace in the Balkans.Three years into Vladimir Putin’s brutal war, this is again a hinge point for Britain. Keir Starmer’s commitment to dramatically raise defence s...

Politics