Overview
- Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper set allocations that reduce aid to 0.3% of national income by 2027, removing about £6 billion a year from previous plans to boost defence.
- Seventy percent of geographic funding will go to fragile states with support for Ukraine, Palestine/Gaza and Sudan protected, while bilateral grants end for G20 countries and are cut back in Afghanistan, Somalia, Yemen, Pakistan and Mozambique.
- Government figures show bilateral programmes in Africa fall 56% from £1.5 billion in 2024/25 to about £677 million by 2028/29.
- Thematic budgets are scaled back, with climate finance falling from £11.6 billion over five years to £6 billion over three years and humanitarian crisis relief cut 15% to just under £300 million a year.
- Ministers will shield many multilateral contributions and protect selected programmes — including £80 million for Education Cannot Wait, an £11 million uplift for the BBC World Service and expanded HALO and MAG partnerships — as aid groups and MPs warn of severe humanitarian and reputational damage.