Stella Creasy said collaborating with Europe could improve the impact of funding.
A senior Labour MP has said international development must be “urgently” discussed by the Government’s following cuts to the aid budget.
Stella Creasy, who chairs the campaign group Labour Movement for Europe, said Keir Starmer should put foreign aid on the table during the ongoing Brexit reset talks with the EU.
Creasy, who has represented the Greater London seat of Walthamstow since 2010 and previously sat on the party’s frontbench, wrote for the i newspaper ahead of talks next week on the UK’s post-Brexit relationship with the EU.
EU aid accounts for 44 per cent of the world’s total, the largest share internationally, but cooperation on international development was not included in the Brexit deal negotiated by the Conservatives under Boris Johnson.
Creasy believes the UK should collaborate with the EU to ensure it does not lose “soft power” due to following the USA in cutting aid spending.
The MP wrote in the i: “In truth our diplomatic influence ultimately depended on America agreeing with us.
“As we now struggle to keep up with the new White House, the hostilities of the Middle East and Ukraine as well as an emboldened China, mending our savaged relationship with our continental neighbours is imperative to our ability to defend ourselves.
“As with trade, security and diplomacy, this is true of foreign aid too.”
The call comes after Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer announced the UK Government plans to cut UK aid to 0.3% of gross national income (GNI) by 2027.
This is a 40% reduction on the current levels, and down from the 0.7% levels previously seen and which Labour supported in their 2024 General Election manifesto.
The move was widely criticised, including by the government’s own MPs, with plans to use the cut in development funding diverted to defence spending.
Aid minister Anneliese Dodds resigned, warning the move would “remove food and healthcare from desperate people – deeply harming the UK’s reputation”.
Creasy added: “This cut off our capacity to shape not just humanitarian activity but the soft power of conflict prevention – from the Commission’s ECHO directorate on humanitarian assistance, to the €300bn Global Gateway infrastructure programme – Europe’s answer to China’s powerful Belt and Road Initiative.
“In development as in defence, money talks. This is a field where the amount you can spend – the vaccines you can buy and administer, the humanitarian aid you can ship, the conflict resolution you can fund – is what gets you into the crucial meetings and what changes partners’ minds.
“The multiplier effect of collaboration also means our funds have allowed us to punch above our weight – jointly funding family planning around the world has saved the lives of millions of women.”
