even more ODA cuts?

Alongside other European nations, the UK is responding to global insecurity with a big increase in defence spending, and in February 2025, the Government cut the UK’s Official Development Assistance (ODA) budget to 0.3% of our Gross National Income (GNI) to help fund this. This means less support for millions of children around the world to go to school, to have a healthy diet, or to be protected from easily preventable diseases. Now, there are rumours of even further ODA cuts to fund military spending. We need to tell the Government loud and clear that this is unacceptable, and would wreck life-saving ODA programmes that have already been cut to the bone.

what

the UK reduced its support for global poverty eradication in 2025, and there’s a risk the Government could go even further this year

who

widespread public anger might persuade the Government not to raid international development funding any further

how

write directly to the Prime Minister to make the message loud and clear

a catastrophic reversal

Back in February 2025, the Government reneged on its manifesto pledge to increase international development spending (‘overseas aid’) to 0.7% of the UK’s Gross National Income, a decades-old commitment that is enshrined in law. Other major donors such as the US, France and Germany have also reduced their support, making the future of ODA, on which millions of lives depend, highly uncertain.

The BBC recently reported rumours that the ODA budget could be raided yet again to help fund increasing the UK’s military spending more quickly – an objective strongly urged by the Prime Minister at the recent Munich Security Conference.

At a time of increased geopolitical instability, it is understandable that countries such as the UK may wish to increase their defence budgets rapidly. But it is totally indefensible to do so at the cost of essential services relied upon by people and communities around the world, which in any case only account for a tiny proportion of overall Government spending. Yet ODA contributes massively to the UK’s ‘soft power’ and to global security, and cutting it would arguably be a big strategic mistake.

the cost of wrecking global development programmes

Across the globe, ODA-flows are decreasing as governments shirk their responsibilities to the world’s poorest and most marginalised citizens. ODA reduced by a projected 9-17% in 2025, on top of a 9% drop in 2024. ODA in 2027 is projected to fall back to 2020 levels, at a time when needs continue to grow.

These cuts will hit the poorest countries and vital services hardest. It has been estimated that ODA cuts could lead to more than 22 million avoidable deaths by 2030, including 5.4 million children under five.

In May, the UK Government is planning to hold a ‘Global Partnerships Conference’ to discuss the future of international development cooperation and what principles should guide it – thank you if you’ve been able to meet with your MP to explain why this matters, or if you are planning to do so.

As it is, UK aid cuts are set to be the steepest of any G7 country this year, even without any additional cuts beyond what has already been announced. If there are further cuts to ODA, the UK’s global development reputation would be in tatters, and the conference untenable.
It could even be hard to meet the UK’s recent financial pledges (for example, to the Global Fund to Fight HIV, TB and Malaria, or to Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance), which would be totally unacceptable.

Estimates of the cost of increasing defence spending to 3% of GDP by 2029-30 range from £13 to £17 billion per year, on top of existing defence spending. Last year’s Comprehensive Spending Review predicted that ODA will fall from £13.8 billion in 2024 to £10bn in 2026/27, £8.9bn in 2027/28 and then slightly increase to £9.4bn in 2028/29. Quite clearly, reducing ODA can’t cover the gap, and additional sources of funding would be needed in any case.

this month’s campaign message in a nutshell

The UK is responding to global insecurity with a big increase in defence spending. In February 2025, the Government cut the UK’s Official Development Assistance (ODA or ‘overseas aid’) budget to help fund this.

This means less support for millions of children around the world to go to school, to have a healthy diet, or to be protected from easily preventable diseases. Now the BBC has reported that there’s a risk of even further ODA cuts to fund military spending.

This is unacceptable, and will cost lives. The UK must not raid the ODA budget to fund increased defence spending, but must find the money elsewhere. ODA only accounts for a tiny proportion of Government spending, yet contributes massively to global security.

take action now!

Write to the Prime Minister, urging him not to raid the ODA budget any further to fund increased defence spending. Please do this as a matter of urgency if you can!

Address: The Prime Minister, Rt. Hon. Sir Keir Starmer MP, 10 Downing Street, London, SW1A 2AA. Physical letters get noticed!

Email: [email protected]

Online contact form: https://contact.no10.gov.uk/ (this doesn’t allow much space unfortunately)

NOTE: Don’t use the Prime Minister’s constituency or Westminster email addresses, as your letter will not be forwarded to him unless you live in his Holborn and St. Pancras constituency.

Social Media: @Keir_Starmer on X and @KeirStarmerLabour on Facebook.

Copy your letter to your MP, as political pressure will be vital if the rumours of a further raid on ODA are true. Find their contact details here.
Build support for ODA. The more people who are visibly supportive of ODA, the better! If you have family and friends who might be interested in writing a letter, you can send them this link to join the Results grassroots network. They will be given a first task to email their MP about ODA, and will then be able to sign up to receive information about our regular campaign actions and conference calls.

MPs must understand that there is still wide support for the UK’s international development work, that further cuts are unacceptable, and advocate for this in Parliament. The Government must retain its existing ODA programmes, and return the UK’s ODA spending to 0.7% of GNI when it is able to do so. We have been told that MPs and Ministers don’t feel they are hearing from constituents often enough about global justice issues, so we need to ensure this is not the case!

For tips on how to write a great advocacy letter, check out our useful guide.

what Results campaigners have already done to defend ODA

Results grassroots campaigners have always celebrated the UK’s international development efforts, as well as urging the Government to do more. In 2021, when significant cuts were first announced by the last Government, we joined thousands of other campaigners across the UK in alerting MPs to the risk that ODA cuts posed to global poverty reduction efforts. Sadly MPs voted for the cuts at that time, but since then, grassroots campaigners have continued to advocate for the moral and practical benefits of global development programmes.

take action!

write to Keir Starmer, urging him not to raid ODA programmes to fund increases to defence spending

use the information on this web page to help you make your own moral case for the value of global development

copy in your MP, as political pressure on this issue will be vital

I took action!

we’re here to support you!

If you have any questions or need support or advice in writing your letter, please reach out to us!

Contact Naveed Chaudhri, Director of Campaigns, at [email protected].

a war on children’s futures

Education is now “the first casualty” in a perfect storm of crises – ranging from armed conflict and forced displacement (affecting over 122 million people) to climate change and food insecurity. Yet the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) has been forced to slash its education budget by over one-third due to a massive funding shortfall.

A collapse in international solidarity, combined with armed violence, displacement, and climate-related emergencies, is creating a “toxic cocktail” of suffering for the world’s most vulnerable, with children’s education a casualty of the crisis. Executive Director of the International Parliamentary Network for Education (IPNEd), Joseph Nhan-O’Reilly, said:

“The idea that depriving the world’s poorest and most vulnerable citizens of funding to pay for more guns and missiles will make us safer would be laughable if it weren’t so tragic. With crises and conflicts multiplying around the world, it is more necessary than ever to strengthen international solidarity, and I hope that parliaments as representatives of the people can lead their governments to renew their commitment to solidarity through development cooperation and humanitarian assistance.”

Find out more about this story here.

Executive Director of the International Parliamentary Network for Education (IPNEd), Joseph Nhan-O’Reilly, addressing the Inter-Parliamentary Union’s 151st Assembly, Geneva in October 2025.

Credit: IPNEd