British Minister advocates reducing foreign aid to finance increased defence spending

Writing in the British newspaper The Guardian, Lammy defended his country's decision to cut its foreign aid budget to fund increased defence spending.

Lammy stated that there are moments in history when everything changes but the extent of the change "cannot be perceived until the fog clears" and that these moments require clear leadership and bold action.

Noting that three years have passed since the Russia -Ukraine war and that this situation is a turning point for the UK , as in the past, Lammy touched on the importance of British Prime Minister Keir Starmer 's commitment to increase defence spending.

"(Russian President Vladimir) Putin's Russia is a threat not just to Ukraine and its neighbours, but to the whole of Europe, including the UK," Lammy said.

Lammy noted that the US, Britain's closest ally, was increasingly turning to the Indo-Pacific region, and that the US was understandably asking NATO's European members to shoulder more of the burden for the continent's security.

Lammy said threats were multiplying around the world, from traditional warfare to hybrid and cyberattacks, and underlined that the foundation of the ruling Labour government's change plan was "national security".

Minister Lammy said the government would fulfil its promise to increase defence spending to 2.5 % in 2027, and added that, depending on economic conditions, they plan to go even further and increase defence spending to 3% in the next parliamentary term.

Lammy said the Labour government had to “make extremely difficult decisions”, such as reducing international development spending, to meet this commitment and stick to fiscal rules.

David Lammy said: "As the Prime Minister (Starmer) has said, we are not pretending that any of this is easy. This is a difficult choice that no government, let alone a Labour government, will make easily."

Lammy, who stressed that he was proud of his country's record in international development, said the government remained committed to returning foreign aid spending to 0.7% of GDP when fiscal conditions allowed.

"But we are a government of pragmatists, not ideologists, and we have to balance the compassion of our internationalism with the necessity of our national security," Lammy said.

'FAILURE TO DELIVER EXPECTATIONS IN DEFENSE SPENDING WILL REQUIRE MORE HARD CHOICES TO BE MADE IN THE FUTURE'

Referring to his country’s decision to reduce its foreign aid budget, Minister Lammy continued:

"While we will reduce the foreign aid budget, we will protect the most vital programs in the world's worst conflict zones, Ukraine, Gaza and Sudan. But we cannot hide the fact that many programs doing vital work will have to be suspended. The work to make more difficult choices about programs will continue apace in the coming weeks and months, but our fundamental priorities remain the same."

Minister Lammy, recalling that during the height of the Cold War, defence spending was between 4% and 7% of GDP, said: "In this period of financial and geopolitical volatility, failing to deliver on defence spending will leave the UK unprepared for a more dangerous world and potentially force even tougher choices in the future."

UK to Cut Foreign Aid to Finance Increase in Defense Spending

British Prime Minister Starmer announced in a statement to the British Parliament ahead of his official visit to the United States that his country would increase its defense spending to 2.5 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) by 2027.

Starmer had also announced that the foreign aid budget would be cut from 0.5% to 0.3% to finance the increase in defence spending.