A FOREIGN OFFICE minister in the UK has resigned in protest against the Government’s decision to cut the overseas aid budget, branding the move “fundamentally wrong”.
UK Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced the aid budget will be cut to 0.5% of gross national income in 2021 – in spite of promises not to reduce it in the Conservative manifesto – adding the Government’s “intention” is to return it to 0.7% when the fiscal situation allows.
Baroness (Liz) Sugg, whose brief included sustainable development, said pledges should be kept in the “tough times as well as the good”.
In a letter to Prime Minister Boris Johnson, she wrote: “Many in our country face severe challenges as a result of the pandemic and I know the Government must make very difficult choices in response.
“But I believe it is fundamentally wrong to abandon our commitment to spend 0.7% of gross national income on development. This promise should be kept in the tough times as well as the good.
“Given the link between our development spend and the health of our economy, the economic downturn has already led to significant cuts this year and I do not believe we should reduce our support further at a time of unprecedented global crises.”
Boris Johnson said he was “very sorry” to receive her resignation, writing in reply that he is “extremely grateful” for her service as a minister.
“Your work has made a difference to millions of girls around the world, and will stand us in good stead for the Global Partnership for Education replenishment event next year,” he said.
“In addition, your leadership and rigour in the lead up to and during the Africa Investment Summit made it the enormous success it was.
“Your passion and commitment to your work has been clear to civil servants and your ministerial colleagues, and I know that the FCDO will miss you.”
Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab added: “Liz has been a great minister and we will sorely miss her.
“She can be proud of her record championing girls’ education, promoting gender equality, supporting our Overseas Territories and the UK’s vital relations in the Caribbean. I am sorry to see her go.”
Baroness Sugg previously served as director of operations and campaigns at Downing Street under then-prime minister David Cameron before she became a Conservative life peer in 2016.
Her resignation comes amid a growing Tory backlash to the plans, as former international development secretary Andrew Mitchell warned that cutting the budget risks causing 100,000 otherwise preventable deaths.
Mitchell led Conservative opposition to the policy in the Commons, and it now looks likely to face a parliamentary showdown when the expected legislation to implement the change is brought forward by the Government.
The 0.7% target is written into law and Mr Johnson’s 2019 election manifesto promised to keep it.
Conservative Tobias Ellwood, the Defence Committee chairman, warned China and Russia are likely to extend their “authoritarian influence” as a result of the “vacuum” created by the UK “downgrading” its soft power programmes.
Tory Pauline Latham (Mid Derbyshire) also suggested the cut will hit education for girls and result in “more child marriages, more instances of early child birth, more FGM, more domestic violence”.
The UK will be “poorer in the eyes of the world” due to the aid cuts, Conservative former foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt added.
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