Reform’s plan to reduce UK foreign aid by 90% has been criticised over fears it will “devastate Britain’s international influence”, but Nigel Farage says he is putting British people first, do you agree?
Reform UK’s plan to slash the UK’s foreign aid budget by 90% has sparked fierce criticism from across the political spectrum, with warnings it would devastate Britain’s international influence and damage key partnerships with global institutions.
Under the proposals, unveiled by Nigel Farage in November, aid spending would be capped at just £1 billion a year — about 0.03% of GDP. That’s significantly lower than even the already-reduced targets of Keir Starmer’s Labour government, which plans to bring aid down to 0.3% by 2027 (roughly £9 billion).
Critics say the £1bn figure wouldn’t even cover the UK’s current commitments to major multilateral bodies like the UN, the World Bank, and Gavi. Those alone amount to more than £1.6bn annually. Cutting back immediately could mean defaulting on multi-year agreements — and leave no budget for emergency relief in crises like Hurricane Melissa, which recently devastated Jamaica.
Gideon Rabinowitz of Bond, the UK’s umbrella body for aid NGOs, called the plan “unconscionable”, warning it would “drastically reduce” Britain’s ability to fight disease, poverty and disaster — and would hand influence to rivals like Russia and China. “It would undermine our reputation as a reliable global partner,” he said.
The Liberal Democrats slammed the proposal as “a complete ignorance of how our influence works overseas,” adding that it would gut Britain’s presence across Africa and Asia and cripple UK diplomacy.
Labour branded the proposal “back-of-a-fag-packet politics”, warning it would leave Britain isolated and unprepared for future global emergencies.
But Reform’s head of policy, Zia Yusuf, insisted the cuts would focus on ending “wasteful projects” and said Britain would still support Ukraine and genuine disaster relief.
