AID CUTS CONDEMNED

Christian Aid has condemned the cut to the UK’s overseas aid budget, after it was confirmed in April.

The charity’s Director of Policy and Public Affairs, Patrick Watt, said: “Today’s announcements confirm that the UK government’s broken promises on aid will carry a very heavy cost for people in poverty. Cutting aid this heavily and quickly is perverse when poverty is rising, and millions of people are struggling with the impacts of the pandemic. The Government has found unprecedented sums to respond to the crisis at home.

“The claim that UK aid commitments are unaffordable doesn’t wash: the 0.7% target means that aid volumes go down if the economy shrinks, and the ‘savings’ are inconsequential in terms of the UK budget. They’re very consequential for some of the world’s most vulnerable communities that are reached by UK aid. We have heard that in the case of Yemen there has been no assessment of the impacts of the cuts on women, or disabled and internally displaced people, and by the UK Government’s own admission, these cuts are happening without any due diligence.”