Lisa Wise, Save the Children’s Director of Global Policy, Advocacy & Research for Save the Children UK, gives our response to the impact on aid cuts as set out in the Chancellor’s Spring Statement:
"After the Prime Minister's knee jerk decision to slash aid funding last month, today’s figures reveal the aggressive pace of the cuts. This should have been a moment to rethink or, at the very least, provide clarity on how they plan to mitigate the worst impacts of these disastrous cuts on the world’s most vulnerable children. Instead, they have brought forward the cuts to aid with the budget reduced to just above 0.3% of GNI a year before billed. This is a further hammer blow for millions of children.
“The UK’s security and economy are directly tied to global stability. Poverty, conflict, and climate disasters don’t stay contained. They lead to more displaced people, increased instability, and greater threats to international peace - including for the UK. Slashing aid undermines the UK’s action to tackle global instability and makes the world less safe. As a charity working to tackle poverty and support children in the UK and across the globe, we see the corrosive impact of withdrawing funding from communities - be they here in the UK or in other parts of the world.
“Unless the Government changes course, lifesaving support is set to drop to its lowest ever level. Millions of the world’s most vulnerable people will be affected, and many could die. Today the government has shown it puts short term tradeoffs above long term prosperity and security. We urge them to rethink their cuts or mitigate the worst impacts of the cuts on children. This would include reducing the shocking amount of aid money that is spent here in the UK rather than overseas.”