“OVERSEAS aid is an investment in conflict prevention,” the Bishop to the Armed Forces, the Rt Revd Hugh Nelson, has said.
To cut foreign aid from 0.5 to 0.3 per cent of GDP to fund UK defence “is both morally wrong and strategically unwise”, he said.
The decision was announced by the Prime Minister last week, shortly before a weekend of diplomatic meetings, including those with and between the Presidents Trump and Zelensky, to discuss an end to the war between Russia and Ukraine.
In a letter to The Times on Saturday, Bishop Nelson, who is the Bishop of St Germans and Acting Bishop of Truro, wrote: “These cuts limit our ability to provide food, education, and economic stability to the most vulnerable and make us less safe.
Threats to UK security start in places affected by climate change and instability. The seeds of tomorrow’s conflicts are being sown today, and overseas aid is an investment in conflict prevention.
“The Government should consider better options, including a one-off exemption to the Government’s fiscal framework, a digital tax, or a wealth tax.”
On Friday, the International Development Minister, Anneliese Dodds, resigned over the aid cut. In a letter to Sir Keir, she wrote that, while she agreed that defence spending should increase, the “tactical decision” for international aid to “absorb the entire burden” would mean that other priorities could not be maintained.
This included, she said, support for Gaza, Sudan, and Ukraine, vaccinations, climate change, and rule-based systems.
The Bishop of Worcester, Dr John Inge, described her resignation as “an honourable act in the face of a terrible situation”.
The chief executive of Christian Aid, Patrick Watt, welcomed Ms Dodds’s “strong stand” against the “brutal” aid cuts. She had, he said, “rightly recognised that these cuts will remove food and healthcare from desperate people, will likely lead to a total pull out from many of the world’s poorest countries, and will deeply harm the UK’s reputation and influence globally”,
Her resignation also received support from Tearfund. Its chief executive, Nigel Harris, said that she had “recognised . . . the strategic flaw in withdrawing from [the UK’s] commitments around the world at this time of global instability. . . The British people have a proud history of compassion and generosity through international aid, which Dodds has admirably chosen to uphold — I pray that her successor will continue this legacy.”
Charities have continued to condemn the Government’s decision.
