Conservatives would slash UK aid budget further - Bond reaction

Ahead of the Shadow Chancellor Mel Stride’s speech at Conservative party conference on Monday 6 October, the Conservatives have announced that they would slash UK Official Development Assistance (ODA) even further stating, “the Conservatives will deliver serious cuts to the overseas aid budget.

In reaction, Romilly Greenhill, CEO of Bond, the UK network for organisations working in international development and humanitarian assistance, said:

The Conservatives’ deplorable decision to slash the already diminished UK aid budget even further is reckless, short-sighted, and morally indefensible. It undermines our legal obligations and signals the Conservatives want the UK to retreat even further as a trusted global partner.

Marginalised communities who have already borne the brunt of previous cuts will once again pay the price, particularly women and girls and those experiencing conflict. Cutting UK aid doesn’t make us stronger, it makes the world, and the UK, less safe.

Slashing the UK aid budget even further will put our long-term national security at risk by dismantling the very systems that prevent the escalation of conflict, tackles the root causes of poverty and climate change, and protect us against future pandemics. We urge the party to rethink this irresponsible decision.

ENDS.

Notes for editors

In February, the Prime Minister has announced that the UK Official Development Assistance (ODA) will be reduced by 0.2 % of GNI, to fund an increase in defence spending from 2.3 to 2.5% of GDP by 2027, bringing UK ODA as a percentage of GNI to 0.3%.
The Spending Review revealed that the FCDO programme budget will fall to £6.8bn in 2026/27 and £6.19bn in 2027/28 when the full UK aid budget cuts hit – a decrease of over £3bn.
In July, the FCDO released an equality impact assessment of ODA programme allocations for 2025 to 2026 which showed that women and girls will be severely impacted.
Read Bond’s reaction to the FCDO annual report for 2024–25 and the equality impact assessment for 25/26.
Read Bond’s reaction to the government’s announcement in February that UK aid budget cut to fund defence increase.
Bond is the UK network for organisations working in international development. Bond unites and supports a diverse network of over 350 civil society organisations from across the UK, and allies to help eradicate global poverty, inequality and injustice.
Bond has spokespeople available for interviews at the Conversative Party conference, please contact Jess Salter at [email protected] or call 07392972411.