Plaid Cymru leader blasts Starmer’s cuts to international aid budget
Rhun ap Iorwerth MS, has criticised the Prime Minister’s decision to reduce the UK’s international aid budget at a time where “conflict, climate change, and extreme poverty become increasingly interconnected.”
On Tuesday, Sir Keir Starmer announced that the UK’s international aid budget will fall from 0.5% to 0.3% of GDP in 2027, in favour of a 0.2% of GDP increase in defence spending.
This decision to boost defence spending due to an expected shift in United States foreign policy under the leadership of President Trump.
Manifesto commitment
The decision taken by the Prime Minister to move the UK’s spending further away from the 0.7% target set by the United Nations General Assembly – a figure the 2024 Labour Party manifesto also committed to restoring – has been met with criticism by key figures from across the political spectrum and campaigners.
Ahead of Sir Keir Starmer’s visit to the US on Wednesday to meet with President Trump, the leader of Plaid Cymru, said: “It is no surprise that the PM’s short-sighted decision to shrink the international aid budget has drawn criticism from across the political spectrum, including his own party.
“It is one thing to look at defence spending as the international context changes, but as conflict, climate change, and extreme poverty become increasingly interconnected, offering people a lifeline in some of the most destitute conditions on earth is critical.
“Collective action of this kind can help promote peace internationally.
“First Trump bows to Putin, now Starmer bows to Trump. This dangerous domino effect will make the world even more unstable, and we have a moral duty to condemn it.”
‘Most important ally’
Writing for the Daily Mail on Wednesday, Sir Keir said national security “must now become a whole-society effort”.
He called the US “our most important ally” on security, and claimed that “turning away from that relationship would be against our history and our fundamental national interest” as he heralded the “biggest increase in defence spending since the end of the Cold War”.
Sir Keir will follow French President Emmanuel Macron in visiting Mr Trump in Washington DC, and Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky is expected to visit on Friday.
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Soft power is a terrible thing to cut but 14 years of austerity and lack of investment from the Tory party leave little choice. I hope starmer does not bow to trump because he will be cooked if he does.
Quite right, Rhun! Well said. When did more armaments ever stabilise political issues? We’re killing far too many people from hunger and poor health without adding to the death toll with war. The mere threat of war is enough to induce fear and reduce longevity. Given what we’ve seen of the impact of the devastation in Ukraine, Sudan and Palestine on their peoples, homes and societies, there is little good to come from sabre-rattling and its inevitable escalation. How much war do we have to have to make a war dividend worthwhile? How much war can we have within our… Read more »