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    Keir Starmer to carry out largest cut to UK overseas aid in history
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    Keir Starmer to carry out largest cut to UK overseas aid in history

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    48 Comments

    2. FaceMace87 on

      I haven’t been keeping in the media circus loop on this one. Have The Daily Mail and Telegraph turned this into a bad thing yet?

      It always seems to be the case, “we want x” and as soon as a party that isn’t theirs does it, it is a bad thing suddenly.

    4. Long-Maize-9305 on

      Cut deeper.

      We and the rest of the west have sent trillions in foreign aid for no gain, end the grift and spend it on another aircraft carrier.

    5. Strict_Counter_8974 on

      My most right wing opinion (I am in general centre left) is that we shouldn’t be giving a penny in overseas aid while we have a homelessness crisis literally in this country.

    7. Witty-Bus07 on

      We keep hearing about overseas aid but no details as to exactly what it’s spent on and those receiving it.

    8. Randa08 on

      Considering what the US is doing to international politics we probably need it. But I hoe the oversight is there. There’s not point in putting nor money into defense if it disappears into blackholes.

    9. Ok-Preparation3887 on

      There’s no negative to boosting defence spending. Time for Europe to wake up. We give so much to other nations. Time to protect ourself a little more.

    10. Longjumping_Stand889 on

      Any cuts anywhere will almost certainly provoke howls of protest. But a govt has to be able to cut. We shouldn’t be giving out money for ever and ever.

    11. wombat6168 on

      Sometimes aid begins at home. In the age of a cost of living crisis and Putin / Trump causing world instibility we need to spend on our country first.

    12. Somebloke164 on

      It saddens me that I can’t fault his decision.

      The world has become a colder and crueller place these last few years and we must adapt.

    13. ManiacFive on

      I mean, what else is he to do. The British armed forces are woefully underfunded, which might have been alright in the before times, but now, a lacklustre defence budget looks like a real problem.

      And what to cut? Things the British public really care about? Like the already broken NHS?

      Kinda had to be foreign aid sadly.

    15. Alekazam on

      Unfortunately in this day and age hard power is what counts. I have no doubt as to the value of foreign aid, however if the choice is between it and defence then I choose the latter.

      Russians aren’t going to back down because we’re funding granaries and medical centres in Burundi.

    19. Deckard2022 on

      Were prepping for war and need to be in a realistic place to get into a war with Russia

      We’d love to help everyone even more so than we did previously, but we cant help anyone if we have our pants pulled down in a conflict.

      The political and military situation has changed beyond anyone’s imagination, it’s not done to spite or to deny or exclude anyone.

      The projection of power has changed and now we need bullets.

    20. PrincipleVisual5877 on

      I believe many people in the country support reducing the amount of money sent abroad. Even as a liberal, I am against allocating significant funds overseas when so many pressing issues exist at home right now.

      Moreover, a considerable portion of foreign aid is squandered on consultants, committees, and ineffective charities, resulting in insufficient real-world impact. I recall Rory on This Is Politics discussing an instance where tens of thousands of pounds were spent on just four buckets intended for use as toilets in an African village—with approximately £9,900 allocated solely for planning and consulting. In fact, the total expenditure may have even exceeded £100,000, I can’t remember the details, but it all seemed like a complete racquet and very dodgy.

    21. HappyTaco6969 on

      They won’t be complaining if Russia come knocking and this increase in spend means we aren’t steam rolled over. Christ people are acting as though all foreign aid has been pulled, it’s a small part to fund OUR OWN COUNTRIES DEFENCE?! Like it or not the world isn’t so peaceful anymore, we cannot sit back and “wait and see” anymore.

    22. rkr87 on

      This is probably a decision both sides of the Political spectrum would agree is correct given the current climate. Saying that, I’m sure the shitrags will find some way to make it look bad, you know, cus Labour.

    23. Sidian on

      The first thing he’s done that I like. Just wish it went down to 0.0% instead of 0.3% (and that it potentially isn’t going towards his treasonous Chagos surrender).

    24. Ballistic-Bob on

      1 , it’s just common sense..so we get a bollocking ever 2-3 years… and we say sorry .. and we’ll look at it again later.
      We’d still get a bollocking anyway no matter what we do ….

    25. Goss5588 on

      Absolutely the right decision.

      We wouldn’t be able to provide foreign aid if the UK no longer exists!

    26. Ben-D-Beast on

      Aid is very important both morally and pragmatically, but in the current climate reallocating funds towards defence is 100% the correct decision.

    27. Main-Combination2718 on

      Probably the best thing to come out of a Labour government since the creation of the NHS.

      Well done Kier.

    28. Fresh_Mountain_Snow on

      This has been contentious for decades. It’s possible for individuals and organizations to donate to the most impactful charities. That can be done through Givewell. High impact. Government needs to prioritize defense and grow the economy so we can all be generous. 

    29. Orlando22tn on

      Look after your own Country first. About time this has happened. also stop the boats that will save a few quid !

    30. Legendofvader on

      Good are public services are declining NHS has gone to the crapper. Time to start sorting out our own first.

    32. Oldschool-fool on

      Good news , it’s about time – we ( the uk ) need to get our own house in order before things get any worse 👍

    35. hazzap913 on

      Shit title, funds for overseas aid is being diverted to boosting our military, which is in much more dire need of funding

    36. HotPotatoWithCheese on

      I will repeat what I said in another thread. I’m in full support of cutting our aid to places like India. Between 2016 and 2021, we spent £2.3 billion on foreign aid to India. This is a country that has a higher GDP than us ffs. The main argument in support of this spending is soft power/influence, but India has remained consistent on staying neutral in international politics, and they do whatever is best for themselves. They even abstained from the UN vote on condemning Russia’s invasion. It has been a complete waste of money and we shouldn’t be giving them any more.

    37. Manoj109 on

      Defence contractors laughing all the way to the bank.

      We will be lining up to get a piece of this pie.

    38. Tarotdragoon on

      I’m happy to get a defence increase, I’m very disappointed it had to come at the expense of foreign aid. I would rather they close more tax loopholes for corporate fudgery.

    39. Best-Drink-972 on

      Cuts foreign aid, diverts money to defence spending, increases defence contracts and defence work… The money stays in the UK while paying people to do it… This is a simple way to increase your growth… Temporarily, looks great on paper, nice and simple and makes them look like they know what they’re doing 🙈

    40. apeel09 on

      Foreign aid just props up the Charitable Industrial Complex. As Peter Buffet clearly explained in his 2013 New York Times op-ed most aid just treats symptoms without bringing about change that’s before we even get to dealing with corruption. Then there’s the thousands of Western jobs that are dependent upon the Charitable Industrial Complex that do nothing to help the people meant to receive the aid.

      We actually need to change how projects are delivered so the measure of success is that in X years time the Foreign Aid budget is reduced by Y amount because of systemic changes we’ve achieved.

    42. Angelezz on

      I hope he also downsized all that free money he is giving away to useless wars.

      Foreign aid actually helps to reduce costs at home by reducing factors in ‘home’ countries that lead to immigration to the UK. Can see this becoming an issue as we saw with Borris.

      When will see see the mega rich, all those new billionaires, since covid, start to get taxed appropriately to pay for things like health and defence.

    44. Ok_Sundae_5899 on

      It seems the Western world is looking inward as it realizes that it can’t influence the world as much as it used to. A new multi-polar world is coming to fruition.

    45. Express_Rent4630 on

      Tbh I’d rather my tax money was spent protecting us at home than on other countries. If there’s a humanitarian crisis then send them money, but we shouldn’t be propping up other countries. And with the world the way it is rn we need to protect ourselves again

    46. FrustratedPCBuild on

      It’s disappointing that it’s come to this but Russia does represent an existential threat and not only is the USA not going to help us if they attack, they might even fight alongside them. No-one thinks war is coming to them until it does, every major war in the past century was preceded by a large number of people saying it was all scaremongering and a fuss over nothing, even Ukraine didn’t believe they were going to be attacked despite the huge buildup of Russian troops on their border. The Tories cut foreign aid to appease racists because they had no understanding of the detrimental effect on our soft power but sadly we’re moving into a world in which hard power will be more important.

    47. Professional-Wing119 on

      Foreign aid generally involves poor people in rich countries sending their tax money to rich people in poor countries, decreasing our large contributions to this exercise in favour of much-neglected national defence is a rare sensible move. However, tinkering around the margins and making a 0.2% increase whilst acting like this is some sort of drastic action is typical of the managerial bureaucrats that have governed our country for so long, we need to go further and faster.