Development minister resigns in protest at Keir Starmer’s aid cuts

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On Friday, the Minister of International Development Dodds resigned in protest against Sir Kerr Starmer’s decision to finance an increase in defense spending of 6 billion pounds by reducing the aid budget in the United Kingdom.
“In the end, these discounts will remove food and health care from desperate people – which strongly harms the reputation of the UK,” Duds said in a letter to the Prime Minister.
Starmer announced on Tuesday 6 billion pounds annually annually An increase in military spending By 2027 she said that it will be fully funded by reducing the budget of 15.3 billion pounds in the United Kingdom from 0.5 percent of the total national income to 0.3 percent.
The reduced aid budget will be 9.2 billion pounds, according to estimates of the House of Commons Library, but about half of this amount can be spent locally, including housing asylum seekers.
The general statement of the General Elections of the Labor Party promised last year to raise spending on aid to 0.7 per cent “as soon as financial conditions allow.”
Starmer has previously announced defense spending on Thursday to meet with US President Donald Trump, who called on NATO partners in Washington to increase defense spending.
The Trump administration also closed all of the US Agency for International Development, which is the main channel for US aid and development programs worth $ 43 billion a year.
“I know you were clear that you do not oppose ideological international development”, ” Dodds Written to Starmer. “But the truth is that this decision is already photographed as it is followed by President Trump’s fall from discounts to the United States Agency for International Development.”
She added that it would be “impossible” to maintain the support of Gaza, Sudan and Ukraine, as well as vaccination and climate support programs, “given the depth of discounts.”
From sadness, I had to submit my resignation as Minister of International Development, Women and Equality.
Although I do not agree with the ODA decision, I continue to support the government and design it to change the needs of our country. pic.twitter.com/44scrx2p8z
– Annelies Dodds (NANNELIS DePdeds) February 28, 2025
Before winning the authority last year, the Labor Party condemned discounts to the international aid provided by the previous conservative government.
Duds, who is on the left of the party, was a shadow consultant in 2020 and Cash When the adviser, Rishi Sonak, cut off the spending of the Conservative Party, it penetrates the statement of this party.
She was only informed of the Starmer plan to reduce the aid budget on Monday, as Dodds confirmed in its message. She added that she stopped resignation until the Prime Minister returned from Washington.
Starmer said in a message in response to Dodds: “The decision I made to influence ODA was a difficult and painful decision and not a decision.
“We will do our best to return to a world that is not the case and rebuild the ability to develop,” he wrote. “However, protecting our national security must be the first duty of any government and I will always work in the interest of the British people.”
The Prime Minister also pledged to continue providing support in the worst conflict areas in Ukraine, Gaza and Sudan.
Almost a third of the UK aid budget is already spent on supporting the local asylum system.
During the year 2023, last year with the numbers available, 4.2 billion pounds of aid budget was spent locally on refugees, almost completely to cover the hotel’s costs for asylum seekers awaiting the treatment of claims.
If these asylum costs remain the same, approximately half of the external aid budget will be used to finance the local asylum system in 2027. The government said it wants to reduce the costs of asylum.
Curtain This week, the growing defensive spending will become the total military budget in the United Kingdom to 2.5 percent of GDP.
He added that in the next parliament, it is expected to continue from 2029 to 2034, the United Kingdom will seek to reach the level of 3 percent of GDP.
Duds admitted in her message that the global order after the war “has collapsed”, which requires higher defense expenditures, but said that she expected a collective discussion on the financial rules of the Labor and Tax Party.
“Even 3 percent may be the beginning, and it will be impossible to raise the large necessary resources only through the tactical discounts of public spending,” Dodz wrote. “These are unprecedented times, when strategic decisions cannot be eliminated for the security of our country.”
“They were completely destroyed. It’s great, worked hard, and never complained, I was regularly placed in positions completely impossible and it was always sincere.”
Dodds was one of many of the left callers who were in the original shadow cabinet in Starmer, but it was marginalized when the Labor Party leader turned the party to the right.
She was His rank was reduced in May 2021 From the shadow consultant to the party leader and last July, he obtained government roles for both the Minister of Development and the Minister of Women and Equality.
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2025-02-28 15:07:00