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The UK foreign aid cut is set to be bigger and steeper than those made by the Trump administration in the US, as Sir Keir Starmer’s government grapples with funding pressure.
The UK will cut foreign aid spending by about 27 per cent in 2026-27 compared to 2024-25, while US cuts are expected to be 23 per cent lower in 2026 than 2024, as Congress this month blunted parts of the deep cuts proposed by the President.
Analysis by the Center for Global Development The scale of Britain’s aid cuts follows a decision a year ago to reduce overseas development spending from 0.5 percent of gross national income to 0.3 percent.
This suggests that UK aid cuts between 2024 and 2026 will be the sharpest of any G7 country.
The cuts were first announced to provide additional funding for military spending through 2027 to help counter Russian President Vladimir Putin’s aggression.
But the scale of the cuts could cause particular embarrassment to the centre-left Labor government which has historically supported high aid spending.
Since returning to the White House in 2025, Donald Trump has cut the main foreign aid body, the US Agency for International Development (USAID), and described its spending as “wasteful”.
His administration has said that most development aid is “given to radical, left-wing priorities, including climate change, diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), and LGBTQ activities around the world”.
But last week Trump signed a spending bill approved by Congress that still includes significant cuts — was less aggressive than his administration initially proposed and included cutting $50 billion in foreign aid through 2026.
“Congress has managed to substantially reduce the budget cuts proposed by the Trump administration,” said Ian Mitchell, co-director of the Europe program at CGD.
“By comparison we have seen very little opposition in the UK Parliament, although we can expect more opposition to emerge once the cuts become reality.”
The CGD analysis removed some components of US aid funding, such as military support for Egypt, Israel and Taiwan, to provide a comparison with UK aid spending.
It also does not include UK aid spending spent domestically on housing asylum seekers, although including this would not change the trajectory of the numbers, the CGD said.
When the cuts were announced in February 2025, Britain’s Development Secretary Anneliese Dodds resigned just days later, saying they would “take away food and healthcare from desperate people” and damage Britain’s reputation internationally.
But while there has been sporadic criticism from backbench Labor MPs, the Liberal Democrats and the Greens, the aid cuts have faced only limited opposition, with the UK Labor grappling with both tight finances and turmoil within the party.
Some commentators expect Starmer’s government to slide to the left in the coming months as he tries to consolidate his position in the party following multiple threats to his leadership and the departure of his main ally, Morgan McSweeney.
The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office did not respond to a request for comment.
