It will examine how the UK can continue to deliver high impact international aid and development assistance in the face of a 40% budget cut as the Government seeks to fund increased defence spending in the name of national security.

Based on the most recent forecast for GNI, the cut in ODA from 0.5% to 0.3% of GNI would mean that the aid budget in 2027 would be around £9.2 billion, compared to £15.4 billion if ODA was kept at 0.5%. Based on these estimates, the 0.3% target would provide about £6.1 billion less ODA than the 0.5% target.

The US has historically been by far the world’s largest aid donor in absolute terms, providing around 20% of all aid by OECD DAC Members each year. In February, the State Department said that USAID programmes to the value of $54 billion will be ended and $4.4 billion of programmes from the US State Department. In March, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that 82% of all USAID programmes would be ended (around 5,200 of the 6,200 programmes). Germany and France have also announced a cut to their ODA.

The reduction to 0.3% of GNI allocated to development assistance, to fund an increase in defence and security spending, and drastic reduction of aid provided by the UK’s partners, mark an inflection point for the Government – one the Committee wishes to investigate and to add its voice.

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