Before the U.K.’s Labour Party took office in July 2024, development advocates had reason for optimism. The 2024 manifesto pledged to rebuild Britain’s global leadership on development and restore the country’s development spending to its previous level of 0.7% of gross national income. But a year later, those hopes are fading, with many in the sector now concerned about the government’s commitment to those promises.
The clearest signal that Labour has turned its back on the sector remains the drastic cut to the country’s aid budget from 0.5% of GNI to 0.3% by 2027, announced in February. But there are others.
Here are three signs that the U.K. is deprioritizing development — and why they matter.
Baroness Jenny Chapman, the currently serving development minister, has a lifetime peerage in the House of Lords, rather than an elected role in the House of Commons, making her the first member of the Lords to hold the development brief since 2003. Some in the sector view this as a problem, questioning whether her unelected position limits her accountability. Chapman is also serving as the minister for Latin America and the Caribbean.