Britain has long been at the forefront of foreign aid, both in spending levels and expertise. The Department for International Development (DfID) was born in 1997 and built a formidable reputation. In 2013 Britain became the first G7 country to meet the UN's aid target of 0.7% of gross national income (GNI).
In 2020 DfID was controversially melded back into the Foreign Office. A year later the ODA budget was cut from 0.7% of GNI to 0.5%. The Labour government then slashed it to 0.3% of GNI by 2027. About a quarter of the previous three years' ODA budgets has been devoured by Britain's domestic spending on refugees, so the amount going overseas—much of it to Ukraine—will be closer to 0.2% of GNI. Bilateral aid to sub-Saharan Africa will have shrunk by half between 2024 and 2028. In 2023 global official development assistance peaked at $240bn.
The prime minister, Keir Starmer, has said the country's aid cuts were to fund higher defence spending. At its best, foreign aid has been a big contributor to the decline of deaths from AIDS, malaria and vaccine-preventable diseases. Analysis by members of Bond, an NGO group, predicted that the announced 24% cut in British funding of Gavi, an international vaccination programme, and a 15% cut to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria would lead to at least 500,000 fewer lives saved over four years.
Jenny Chapman, the development minister, has been crafting a new approach with fewer resources. A higher share of ODA will be channelled through fewer multilateral organisations such as Gavi and the Global Fund. She has prioritised humanitarian aid in conflict-stricken countries and called for a shift from being a "donor" to an "investor" via British International Investment, the government's development-finance body. A report from Chatham House urges Britain to team up with like-minded donors such as Australia, Canada, the EU and Japan, pooling resources and cutting duplication—a NATO for aid, in effect. Britain is presiding over the G20 next year.
Procrastination means never having to say you're sorry.