Anneliese Dodds, the development minister, has resigned over the government’s cuts to the aid budget to fund a defence spending increase.
Read her letter of resignation below:
Dear Prime Minister,
It is with sadness that I write to inform you that I will cease attending your Cabinet, and am tendering to you my resignation as your Minister of State for International Development and for Women and Equalities.
As I stated to you earlier this week, it was imperative that you had a united cabinet behind you as you set off for Washington. Your determination to pursue peace through strength for Ukraine is one I share. It is for that reason that I am only writing to you now that your meeting with President Trump is over, and four days after you informed me of your decision to cut Overseas Development Assistance to 0.3% of GNI.
Undoubtedly the postwar global order has come crashing down. I believe that we must increase spending on defence as a result; and know that there are no easy paths to doing so.
I stood ready to work with you to deliver that increased spending, knowing some might well have had to come from ODA. I also expected we would collectively discuss our fiscal rules and approach to taxation, as other nations are doing. Even 3% may only be the start, and it will be impossible to raise the substantial resources needed just through tactical cuts to public spending. These are unprecedented times, when strategic decisions for the sake of our country’s security cannot be ducked.
Instead, the tactical decision was taken for ODA to absorb the entire burden. You have maintained that you want to continue support for Gaza, Sudan and Ukraine; for vaccination; for climate; and for rules-based systems. Yet it will be impossible to maintain these priorities given the depth of the cut; the effect will be far greater than presented, even if assumptions made about reducing asylum costs hold true. The cut will also likely lead to a UK pull-out from numerous African, Caribbean and Western Balkan nations – at a time when Russia has been aggressively increasing its global presence. It will likely lead to withdrawal from regional banks and a reduced commitment to the World Bank; the UK being shut out of numerous multilateral bodies; and a reduced voice for the UK in the G7, G20 and in 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.
Ultimately, these cuts will remove food and healthcare from desperate people – deeply harming the UK’s reputation. I know you have been clear that you are not ideologically opposed to international development. But the reality is that this decision is already being portrayed as following in President Trump’s slipstream of cuts to USAID.
While we differ profoundly on this decision, I remain proud of all that you have achieved since I backed you to be leader of the Labour Party. I will always remain grateful to you for enabling me to contribute to our election victory, by appointing me to chair the policy review, Stronger Together and the National Policy Forum, and of course the Labour Party itself, including work to rid the party of anti-semitism and on the production of the manifesto. I am also grateful to the many thousands of party members, party staff and trade unionists I have worked with.
I also regret deeply that I will no longer be able to work with you towards a more equal Britain, after years of covering the women and equalities brief where I have sought to deliver a commonsense approach which could command public support while delivering change. I am sorry that I will not be in post to deliver the groundbreaking new legislation on equality for Black, Asian and minority ethnic people, disabled people and LGBT+ people to which we are committed. I am however pleased that OEO measures in the Employment Rights Bill will soon be in place, revolutionising support for women in the workplace.
Finally, I would like to thank the civil servants whom I have worked with over the last eight months – individuals who often work in the most dangerous and difficult places and circumstances, to protect our country’s interests.
I wish you, and the government you command, every success for the future.
I will continue to support you, and the change you are determined to deliver – but now I shall do so from the backbenches.
Yours ever,
Anneliese Dodds MP
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Anneliese Dodds quits as international development minister over aid budget cut
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