Starmer’s UK Aid Cuts a Gift to Authoritarian Regimes

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s decision to reduce UK aid from 0.5% of Gross National Income (GNI) to 0.3% is indefensible and will cost lives, Burma Campaign UK said today.

Aid cuts from 0.7% of GNI to 0.5% by the former Conservative government contributed to a 73% cut in aid to Burma and to Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh in recent years. A small increase in aid to Burma by the new Labour government had led to hopes that UK aid to Burma would be restored and then increased to help respond to the growing humanitarian crisis in the country. An estimated £6 billion a-year cut in UK international aid has dashed these hopes.

Keir Starmer’s savage cuts in international assistance break the UK’s international legal obligation to spend 0.7% of GNI on international aid.