Women and children ‘will suffer most from overseas aid cuts'
An impact assessment carried out by the Foreign Office warned that plans to reduce spending on health projects in Africa would increase disease and ultimately deaths, particularly among women and children.
Planned cuts to education spending in countries such as the Democratic Republic of Congo would have a 'negative impact' on 170,000 children in former conflict zones, the report added.
Ministers announced plans to cut the aid budget by five per cent this year as the government reduces spending from 0.5 per cent of GDP to 0.3 per cent by 2027.
Support for Sudan will fall from £145 million in the last financial year to £120 million this year. Aid to Ethiopia will fall from £314 million to £161 million, and Somalia will lose more than £36 million.
Total global spending on health projects will fall from £974 million to £527 million. The budget for humanitarian aid, food security and resilience will also be cut.
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Some areas have been protected, however, and their budgets will increase. The BBC World Service 's total budget will rise from £104 million to £137 million. Spending on energy, climate and the environment will rise from £414 million to £656 million.
Overall, total government spending on official development assistance will fall from £9.2 billion last year to £8.7 billion this year.
These cuts will be much deeper next year: the overseas aid budget falls to £6.8 billion before it is reduced again to £6.1 billion in 2027.
Ministers said the cuts meant that Britain would have to support organisations with a 'proven track record of impact'. This is likely to lead to significant cuts to bilateral programmes, where Britain directly supports individual countries.
Government sources said they were still working through the implications of next year's cuts, which would result in 'difficult choices'.
An impact assessment, published alongside the government's new spending plans, said some programmes would be adversely affected immediately.
The cuts will affect aid programmes in Kenya immediately
DONWILSON ODHIAMBO/GETTY
Among those is the hunger safety net programme in Kenya, which the Foreign Office said would have a negative impact given the 'critical role of social protection for poor, vulnerable and marginalised households and groups'.
The budget for the programme to support the ending of preventable deaths will also be cut, which the report said would reduce assistance in 11 countries 'at a time when demand is likely to be high given other funding cuts'.
Baroness Chapman, the development minister, said the cuts meant the UK needed to 'modernise our approach to international development'.
She said: 'Every pound must work harder for UK taxpayers and the people we help around the world and these figures show how we are starting to do just that through having a clear focus and priorities.'
Gideon Rabinowitz, the director of policy at Bond, which represents UK aid organisations, said it was clear that the government was 'deprioritising funding for education, gender and countries experiencing humanitarian crises such as South Sudan, Ethiopia and Somalia'.
He said: 'The world's most marginalised communities, particularly those experiencing conflict and women and girls, will pay the highest price for these political choices.'
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