Thursday, March 19, 2026
Labour MPs revolt on international aid cuts
The paper says that the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) is expected to make an announcement to parliament on Thursday over reduced allocations for aid, more than a year after the prime minister announced plans to reduce the funds from 0.5 per cent of GDP to 0.3 per cent by 2027:
Keir Starmer is set to face the wrath of Labour MPs over confirmation of significant cuts to overseas development aid (ODA).
The Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) is expected to make an announcement to parliament on Thursday over reduced allocations for aid, more than a year after the prime minister announced plans to reduce the funds from 0.5 per cent of GDP to 0.3 per cent by 2027.
The ODA budget was reduced to 0.48 per cent in 2025/26, then will drop to 0.37 per cent in 2026/27, and will be a mere 0.3 per cent in 2027/28.
Ahead of the statement, former international development minister Gareth Thomas, the Labour MP for Harrow West, issued a warning to the government that it was leaving the door open for malign foreign powers such as China to fill the space left by the UK.
He said: “In an already unsafe world, cutting aid risks alienating key allies and will make improving children’s health and education in Commonwealth countries more difficult.
“We risk creating more opportunities for regimes who don’t share our values.
“Our security depends not just on a stronger military but also on building soft power so that our soldiers aren’t needed.”
Mr Thomas’s intervention reflects growing unease on the Labour backbenches about the policy which only leaves guaranteed funding for Ukraine, Gaza, the UK’s Overseas Territories and Sudan. It is believed that protections for women and girls will also be maintained.
The cuts are the latest issue to spark discontent among Labour MPs in a week where a speech by former deputy prime minister Angela Rayner describing draconian plans to control immigration as “un-British” have ignited another civil war within the party.
With Labour losing the crucial Gorton and Denton by-election to the Greens and coming third behind Reform in what had been the party’s seventh safest seat, Labour MPs are actively discussing replacing the prime minister in a bid to move left.
One senior backbencher said: “The issue on overseas aid is just another example of the way this government has moved away from Labour values.”
Labour really have lost their way.
