Keir Starmer faces growing pressure from senior Labour MPs over his decision to cut the overseas aid budget to fund increase in defence spending to 2.5 per cent of GDP LISTEN: Trump, Zelensky, the rise of Europe’s Far Right and what’s next for NATO – listen to Alas Vine & Hitchens wherever you get your podcasts.. By JASON GROVES, POLITICAL EDITOR FOR THE DAILY MAIL Published: 23:04 GMT, 3 March 2025 | Updated: 23:04 GMT, 3 March 2025 Keir Starmer is facing a growing Labour backlash over his decision to raid the foreign aid budget to boost defence spending. Labour MPs lined up to criticise the move in the Commons on Monday, with former frontbencher Barry Gardiner warning it would lead to more ‘more people being slain by famine, drought, disaster and war’. The Prime Minister said the decision to slash £6 billion from the aid budget have been necessary to raise defence spending to 2.5 per cent of GDP by 2027. A YouGov poll yesterday found the move is popular, with 65 per cent of people supporting it and just 20 per cent opposed. But the decision, which will see the aid budget cut from 0.5 per cent of GDP to 0.3 per cent, is causing mounting anger on Labour’s benches. Aid minister Anneliese Dodds resigned in protest on Friday. And Labour MPs have called on the PM to find the cash for defence by raising taxes or relaxing the Government’s fiscal rules to allow for more borrowing. Dame Emily Thornberry, chairman of the Commons foreign affairs committee, urged the PM to think again. She said that, with the aid budget also paying out billions to house asylum seekers in hotels in the UK, it was ‘hard to believe’ there would be enough left to meet the PM’s stated aim of supporting desperate people in war zones like Ukraine, Gaza and Sudan. Sir Keir Starmer is facing a backlash over his decision to cut £6billion of foreign aid in order to increase defence spending to 2.5 per cent of GDP by 2027 Labour MP Barry Gardiner (pictured) said the move would lead to ‘more people being slain by famine, drought, disaster and war’ Anneliese Dodds (pictured) resigned from her position as aid minister on Friday in protest against the spending cut Ms Dodds suggested that taxes will need to rise as the new military demands cannot be met be 'tactical' reductions to spending She warned that the cuts would ‘in the long-term hobble the very leadership that the Prime Minister has shown this weekend’ on Ukraine. Mr Gardiner said it was ‘a moment to accept that the post-war international settlement has now been fractured and that the necessary rise in defence spending should be achieved by changing the fiscal rules, not by cuts to international aid’. Labour MP Nadia Whittome said the decision ‘risks both increasing global instability and undermining support for Ukraine both here at home and internationally’. Fellow Labour MP Cat Smith asked the PM to ‘recommit’ to last year’s manifesto pledge to restore aid spending to 0.7 per cent of GDP. The PM said he wanted to ‘restore aid and development funding as soon as fiscal events allow. ‘It’s a principle I believe in. I’m proud of what we’ve done’. In the meantime, he said he was working with the World Bank and others to find ways of encouraging the private sector to fund development projects ‘without necessarily increasing the spend within the Government budget’. He added: ‘The security and safety and defence of Europe has to come first but I’m absolutely committed to doing what we can to increasing the aid and development that we’re able to provide, which is why I’ll look at the priorities and work with others on other ways to leverage the support that we might be able to put in place.’ Keir StarmerLabourSudanUkraine Share or comment on this article: Keir Starmer faces growing pressure from senior Labour MPs over his decision to cut the overseas aid budget to fund increase in defence spending to 2.5 per cent of GDP Add comment