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Anneliese Dodds has quit her role as international development minister over prime minister Sir Keir Starmer’s decision to slash the international aid budget to increase defence spending.
The Labour MP predicted in a letter to the prime minister that he would find it impossible to continue support for Gaza, Ukraine and Sudan given the severity of the cut to 0.3 per cent of GNI (gross national income).
She revealed she was only told of the decision on Monday, but held off resigning until he had returned from Washington, to ensure a united and successful visit to Donald Trump.
Earlier, health secretary Wes Streeting has stressed that the NHS was “not on the table” in any US trade deal.
The US president said he had “great discussions on trade” with Sir Keir and expressed confidence that a deal could be reached “rather quickly”.
“I think we’ll have two deals,” he said, “a deal on ending the war [in Ukraine] and a great trade deal with you [the UK]”.
But the prime minister failed to secure key concessions over Ukraine in critical White House talks.
Sir Keir opened his talks with Mr Trump with a charm offensive, delivering an unprecedented second royal invitation for a state visit, which the US president readily accepted.
Trump ‘recognises the strength’ of Chagos deal – No 10 says
Donald Trump “recognises the strength” of the Chagos Islands deal, Downing Street said after the US president signalled he would back it.
Mr Trump said he thought the US would be “inclined to go along” with Sir Keir Starmer’s deal to hand over sovereignty of the islands to Mauritius when the two leaders met at the White House on Thursday.
No 10 said it was right for the new US administration to look at the agreement, which was agreed under Mr Trump’s predecessor Joe Biden.
The agreement includes a plan to lease back the strategically important US-UK military base on Diego Garcia at British taxpayers’ expense.
The UK has offered Mr Trump an effective veto on the deal because of its implications for US security, and allies of the president have criticised the plan.
Speaking in the Oval Office alongside the Prime Minister, Mr Trump said: “We’re going to have some discussions about that very soon, and I have a feeling it’s going to work out very well.”
He said it was a “very long-term, powerful lease, a very strong lease” and that “I think we’ll be inclined to go along with your country.”
Anneliese Dodds’s resignation is like Robin Cook’s – principled, but ultimately pointless
Her loyalty to the prime minister, the government and the party resembles that of Robin Cook in 2003. He resigned as foreign secretary over the decision to join the US invasion of Iraq, but he did so respecting Tony Blair’s integrity, and very much more in sorrow than in anger – as resignations on matters of principle ought to be.
Dodds’s resignation letter says that she agrees that “we must increase defence spending”. In this, she differs from Diane Abbott, the former shadow home secretary, who argued in The Independent yesterday that more spending on defence will make us less safe.
Read the full article here:
Starmer to discuss how to make peace ‘stick’ with Zelensky
The Prime Minister is preparing to discuss how to guarantee a peace deal in Ukraine will last when he meets Volodymyr Zelensky in Downing Street this weekend.
Leaders from across Europe will gather in London on Sunday, following a week which will have seen Sir Keir, France’s Emmanuel Macron and the Ukrainian president travel for talks with US president Donald Trump.
The Ukrainian leader will follow Sir Keir in meeting with Mr Trump in Washington on Friday and finalising a deal that will give the US access to Ukraine’s earth minerals, which Downing Street has welcomed as it would “bind” Washington to Kyiv.
Ahead of Sunday’s summit focused on security, the Prime Minister will meet with Mr Zelensky separately.
A Downing Street spokesman said on Friday that “the UK has made it clear that we’ll play our full part in ensuring a just and lasting peace deal on Ukraine’s terms, backed up by strong security guarantees.
“Just this week we demonstrated our commitment to that confirming we’ll increase defence spending to 2.5% by 2027. But that peace deal has to come first and as you know the Prime Minister will meet President Zelensky before convening European leaders in London on Sunday to continue those discussions.
“The deal has to come first, but our teams are going to be talking about how we make sure that deal sticks and is lasting and enforced.”
Children’s charity says Starmer decision will be ‘catastrophic’
Responding to the news of the resignation of Anneliese Dodds, Kathleen Spencer Chapman, Director of Influencing and External Affairs at children’s charity Plan International UK said: “We share Annelise Dodds’s extreme disappointment at the Prime Minister’s shortsighted decision to slash the overseas aid budget.
“Her resignation shows that the most influential politicians in the Labour Party echo our outrage at the Government’s decision to slash an already woefully cut overseas aid budget. Cutting international aid to the lowest level since 1999 does not have a consensus across Parliament.
“Overseas aid saves lives. The Prime Minister’s decision will be catastrophic for millions of people affected by conflict, hunger, poverty and violence, including in Gaza, Sudan and Ukraine.
“At a time when humanitarian needs remain at an all-time high, the UK should be stepping up and showing its commitment to overseas aid. Instead, it is adding to the suffering.
“Plan International UK urgently calls on the Prime Minister to abandon this inhumane decision. Overseas aid saves children’s lives: the Government must reverse the cuts now.
“We would also like to thank the Minister for the commitment she showed to gender equality in both her Ministerial roles – we urge the government to continue to prioritise enhancing gender equality and protecting the rights of girls across the globe.”
Lib Dems back Dodds
The Liberal Democrat spokesperson for international development said Anneliese Dodds had done the right thing.
Monica Harding wrote on social media: “The Government’s position on the international aid cut is unsustainable.
“Increasing defence spending to 2.5% is the right thing to do as the global threats we face intensify.
“But doing so by cutting the international aid budget is like taking off the roof to put up another wall. The Government haven’t even carried out an impact assessment.”
‘Impossible to maintain priorities’: Dodds resigns – full report
Dodds’ resignation letter in full
Read the letter to Sir Keir Starmer:
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch appears to have backed the Prime Minister’s decision to cut overseas aid to fund a boost to defence spending following Anneliese Dodds’s ministerial resignation.
In a social media post, Mrs Badenoch wrote: “I disagree with the PM on many things but on reducing the foreign aid budget to fund UK defence? He’s absolutely right.
“He may not be able to convince the ministers in his own cabinet, but on this subject, I will back him.
“National interest always comes first.”
Tory ex-development secretary backs Dodds
Former international development secretary Andrew Mitchell said Anneliese Dodds had “done the right thing”.
The Tory ex-foreign office minister said: “Anneliese has done the right thing.
“Labour’s disgraceful and cynical actions demean the Labour Party’s reputation as they balance the books on the backs of the poorest people in the world. Shame on them and kudos to a politician of decency and principle.”
Reduction of foreign aid budget will ‘harm UK’s reputation’
Anneliese Dodds wrote that while the defence budget needed to be increased, she disagreed with the decision for her budget to “absorb the entire burden”.
While Starmer has insisted that the UK will continue to support crucial aid programmes in wartorn regions such as Gaza, Sudan and Ukraine, Ms Dodds said it would be “impossible to maintain these priorities”.
“The cut will also likely lead to a UK pullout from numerous African, Caribbean and western Balkan nations at a time when Russia has been aggressively increasing its global presence,” she said.
She stressed that this could lead to the UK being shut out of numerous bilateral bodies and having a reduced voice in G7, G20 and climate negotiations.
“All this while China is seeking to rewrite global rules, and when the climate crisis is the biggest security threat of them all,” she wrote.
