{"id":478078,"date":"2026-03-16T04:43:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-16T04:43:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/478078\/"},"modified":"2026-03-16T04:43:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-16T04:43:09","slug":"overseas-aid-cuts-threaten-uk-aid-watchdog-politico","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/478078\/","title":{"rendered":"Overseas aid cuts threaten UK aid watchdog \u2013 POLITICO"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Fleur Anderson, a member of the foreign affairs committee, told POLITICO: \u201cWhen something works as well as ICAI, why are we even considering dismantling it?\u201d Beccy Cooper, a 2024 intake MP, said: \u201cMore than ever, we need to ensure effectiveness and maximum impact of our aid funding.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Asked about the body\u2019s future in January, International Development Minister Jenny Chapman said: \u201cI have to ask myself whether that is the right use of that money or whether we could get what we need more efficiently.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The government is expected to prioritize multilateral aid while slashing funding for bilateral donations and in-country projects including public health initiatives and education for women and girls.<\/p>\n<p>A Labour MP briefed on the plans, granted anonymity to speak candidly, raised fears that some cuts would go against ministers\u2019 own stated aims for the remaining aid budgets.<\/p>\n<p>The MP flagged proposals to reduce funds for the British International Investment development bank, despite a stated aim to boost private investment in development projects, and to reduce the headcount of Whitehall staff working on ODA, despite professing a wish to focus on expertise.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"682\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/GettyImages-2211108575-1024x682.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-8107122\"  \/>Fleur Anderson, a member of the foreign affairs committee, told POLITICO: \u201cWhen something works as well as ICAI, why are we even considering dismantling it?\u201d | Brian Lawless\/PA Images via Getty Images<\/p>\n<p>Chapman held briefings on the plans last week and will hold more sessions next week as the government tries to keep MPs onside as the details emerge of where savings will be made.<\/p>\n<p>An FCDO spokesperson said: \u201cNational security is the first duty of this government. That\u2019s why, to fund a necessary increase in defense spending, the government has taken the decision to reduce the U.K. ODA budget to 0.3 percent of [economic output] by 2027.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe remain absolutely committed to tackling the global challenges of hunger, disease, insecurity and conflict, but we have been clear we must modernize our approach to development to reflect the changing global context.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Fleur Anderson, a member of the foreign affairs committee, told POLITICO: \u201cWhen something works as well as ICAI,&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":478079,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[458,5704,140,8063,1398,461,170118,2992,59,57,58,465,76431,420,50,59085,650,470,170119,1351,56,54,55,20765],"class_list":["post-478078","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-kingdom","tag-budget","tag-conflict","tag-defense","tag-development","tag-education","tag-elections","tag-fleur-anderson","tag-foreign-policy","tag-gb","tag-great-britain","tag-greatbritain","tag-investment","tag-jenny-chapman","tag-keir-starmer","tag-news","tag-private-investment","tag-public-health","tag-rights","tag-sarah-champion","tag-security","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom","tag-yvette-cooper"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/478078","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=478078"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/478078\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/478079"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=478078"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=478078"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=478078"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}