Mercy Corps Statement on UK Government’s Decision to Slash Aid Funding
LONDON - Today’s announcement by Prime Minister Keir Starmer of cuts to Oversees Development Assistance (ODA) brings the UK’s contribution to global development efforts to its lowest level since 1999.
Mercy Corps is devastated to see these further cuts to the UK aid budget, which have been in decline since 2016. The funding available to support efforts in international development and humanitarian crises is in fact still considerably lower, as domestic spending on asylum seekers continues to siphon off spending from oversees commitments.
Mercy Corps Senior Director of Policy & Advocacy, Selena Victor, says:
“Cutting aid to fund defense is not only sacrificing lives but is also incredibly shortsighted. Cutting aid will not make the UK safer.”
“UK aid is extraordinarily powerful - it saves lives in humanitarian crises, feeds children left starving by devastating conflicts, provides education, healthcare, fundamental necessities like water and medicine. It also helps combat the threat of both conflict and climate change - which threaten us all.”
“A future in which the UK turns its backs on the poorest and most vulnerable, where countless more will die unnecessarily, will not make us safer and will be a further devastating blow to vulnerable communities around the world who rely on an aid system already reeling.”
For more information, please contact:
- Kyle DeGraw, Director of Media and Communications for Europe, based in London at kdegraw@mercycorps.org
- Our full media team is reachable at allmediarelations@mercycorps.org