UK’s foreign aid cuts likely to hinder vaccination and climate change efforts

Former Cabinet minister David Lidington condemns divisive decision

Members of the British Royal Navy carry medical supplies to a ship in Gibraltar as part of the UK’s foreign assistance programme. AFP

Cuts to the UK’s foreign aid budget could hamper global efforts to tackle coronavirus and climate change, a former government minister said.

David Lidington, once a Conservative MP and Cabinet Office secretary, said Britain’s decision to cut aid expenditure from 0.7 per cent to 0.5 per cent of GDP was “deeply regrettable”.

In an online event held by the Institute for Government, a think tank, Mr Lidington said the country’s crisis assistance budget would be “hit hard” by a drop in funding.

Long-term spending commitments would probably lead to spending cuts in discretionary areas, such as vaccination efforts and carbon reduction projects, he said.

In November, Chancellor Rishi Sunak revealed plans to cut the aid bill to help plug the UK's finances during the pandemic.

“This is going to hit hard at the discretionary spending ... because a lot of aid spending is tied up in long-term commitments that you can’t cut dramatically,” Mr Lidington said.

“So, the burden of the cuts is going to fall on crisis assistance and some scientific programmes.

“A lot of money goes into British research and some of that goes into carbon reduction projects.

“Some of it goes into vaccination efforts being made around the world, so both those objectives – carbon and vaccination – are bound to be harmed by this cut.”

The former minister's comments came as Britain gears up to host the G7 summit in Cornwall, south-west England, in June and the Cop26 summit in Glasgow in November.

Charities and humanitarian groups criticised the aid cut, saying the world’s poorest populations would be hit hardest.

The spending cut went “too far”, Mr Lidington said.

But the UK’s aid contributions remains one of the largest bilateral development programmes in the world, he said.

“I hope that the government will, even at this stage, think again and restore it to 0.7 per cent at the earliest opportunity.”