Anneliese Dodds has resigned following the Labour government’s slashing of overseas budgets
A former chair of the Labour Party has quit Keir Starmer’s frontbench over the prime minister’s decision to slash international aid budgets to fund defence.
Anneliese Dodds has resigned as international development minister after the move to cut official development assistance (ODA) from 0.5% of gross national income to 0.3% in 2027.
In a letter to Starmer, Dodds said it would be “impossible” to retain funding in Gaza, Sudan and Ukraine.
She urged the government to look at other ways of funding the increase to defence spending, which the Labour leader hopes to see rise to 3% of GDP by 2030.
Dodds said she was not made aware of the decision until Monday, and held off resigning until after Starmer’s meeting with US President Donald Trump - whose own government has slashed international aid.
Publishing a letter on her social media, she wrote: “It is with sadness that I have had to tender my resignation as minister for international development and for women and equalities.
“While I disagree with the ODA decision, I continue to support the government and its determination to deliver the change our country needs.”
Dodds said the prime minister had decided to allow ODA to carry the “entire burden” of defence spending increases.
She added: “You have maintained that you want to continue support for Gaza, Sudan and Ukraine; for vaccination; for climate; and for rules-based systems. Yet it will be impossible to maintain these priorities given the depth of the cut; the effect will be far greater than presented, even if assumptions made about reducing asylum costs are true.
“The cut will also likely lead to a UK pull-out from numerous African, Caribbean and Western Balkan nations - at a time when Russia has been aggressively increasing its global presence.
“Ultimately, these cuts will remove food and healthcare from desperate people - deeply harming the UK’s reputation. I know you have been clear that you are ideologically opposed to international development. But the reality is that this decision is already being portrayed as following in president Trump’s slipstream of cuts to USAID.”
