Opinion: UK chancellor must act in the budget to prevent more aid cuts

With the United Kingdom’s national financial budget just a day away, the U.K. chancellor, the country’s chief financial minister, has a chance to mitigate some of the mistakes made by the last Conservative government and ensure that the U.K. aid budget isn’t further decimated. 

During the 2019 Conservative Party leadership contest, alarm bells rang when Boris Johnson boasted to party members that he would make sure the foreign aid budget would be used “more in line with Britain’s political, commercial and diplomatic interests” — a move that would have torn up the global rules of aid and development and with it, our promise to those facing extreme poverty, inequality, and the consequences of climate change.

Five years later, things haven’t gotten to be as bad as that with the U.K. aid budget, thankfully, but the situation is still concerning. A staggering 28% of U.K. aid is spent right here in the country, some of which is used to fund hotel contracts to house vulnerable asylum-seekers and refugees.