Rachel Reeves made the announcement in Westminster on Wednesday. 

The UK Government has confirmed that proposed cuts to international aid will begin immediately. 

Chancellor Rachel Reeves used her Spring Statement to confirm an additional £2.2billion in spending will be provided for the Ministry of Defence in the next financial year. 

This means the Labour Government will start moving money immediately from the UK's Official Development Assistance (ODA) budget to fund this increase in defence spending. 

The UK aid budget will start to be reduced from 25/26 to reach 0.3% by 2027.

The move has been widely opposed in recent weeks by charities and members of the government, with former Aid Minister Anneliese Dodds resigning over the matter. 

Romilly Greenhill, CEO of Bond, the UK network for organisations working in international development and humanitarian assistance, said: “By choosing to rush through these cuts, the UK is turning its back on the poorest and most marginalised people globally. Instead of learning from past mistakes, the government is following in the previous government’s footsteps in making sudden and damaging reductions to UK aid and harming its reputation as a reliable partner. 

“This reckless and cruel decision will affect many millions of people in low- and middle-income countries, potentially putting more than 600,000 lives at risk.  As we have seen with the US cuts, children will miss out on vaccines, girls will lose access to education, reproductive health clinics will close down, and essential medication will run out.  

“We urge the government to mitigate the impact of the cuts by maintaining UK aid at 0.5% of GNI over the next two years and dramatically reduce the amount of UK aid spent on asylum accommodation in the UK. This would help prevent a funding cliff-edge and protect vital programmes where it is needed most."