The International Development Committee is calling for spending on nutrition and food security to be protected.
A committee of MPs at Westminster has said the UK Government should lead by example in eliminating hunger as global efforts wane.
In a new report, the International Development Committee calls for the Government to ensure that all aid spending committed to nutrition and food security is predictable and long term and urges the Government to provide better safeguards against changes to funding for nutrition.
As part of this, it recommends the UK make “a generous and well targeted pledge” at the Nutrition for Growth summit at the end of March and pledge at least £50million to the Child Nutrition Fund, to match-fund philanthropic funding to address malnutrition.
In 2015, all United Nations (UN) member states signed up to 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) including SDG2, a target to end hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition, and promote sustainable agriculture by 2030.
However, the report finds that the world is currently off-target to achieving SDG2 and “shows signs of waning in its resolve”.
It notes that 733 million people faced hunger in 2024, while 45m children under 5 suffer from acute malnutrition, according to the UN’s World Food Programme. An “urgent and concerted effort” is required at all levels to tackle both the effects and causes of poor nutrition and food insecurity, it says.
Reflecting on the recent decision to cut UK aid from 0.5% to 0.3% of gross national income (GNI), the Committee urges the Government to learn lessons from previous cuts.
They wrote: “If the Government fails to learn the lessons from the handling of cuts in 2020”, the Committee says, “the misery inflicted on millions will be incalculable, the progress that has been made will stall, and the damage to the UK’s reputation will be all but impossible to reverse.”
Where cuts are to be made through the upcoming spending review, the Committee urges the Government to deliver a “phased transition” with clear communication, to avoid the damage done when the aid budget was previously cut in 2020.
MPs also recommend that the UK adopt a “whole of Government” approach to delivering on its food security goals. By the end of 2025, it should create a cross-Government plan for delivery, with clear guidance for civil servants on how to take nutrition and food security into account across its programmes.
In the report, MPs argue that the UK is able to be a considerable force for good in efforts to tackle hunger. However, they say that the will to maintain international leadership must come from the top of Government and that this role should be undertaken “with humility and in the spirit of partnership”.
Sarah Champion MP, chair of the International Development Committee, said: “Nearly fifteen years on from the world adopting the Sustainable Development Goals, progress in eliminating hunger is stalling, if not reversing.
“This is deeply worrying. Good nutrition is the foundation of so many of our development goals, from fighting disease and maternal mortality, to improving educational outcomes and breaking people out of poverty and inequality.
“As our report makes clear: hunger breeds conflict and conflict breeds hunger. At a time of rising instability, a whole of government approach to delivering on our zero hunger goals could be transformative.
“A generous pledge from the UK Government at this month’s Nutrition for Growth summit would aid millions of people. But the UK must go further by demonstrating a serious and lasting commitment to lead the world in development once more.”
