Bill Gates criticises Budget cut to overseas aid

Bill Gates has joined a chorus of international development voices criticising the government cutting billions in overseas aid spending in the Budget.

On Wednesday, Chancellor Rachel Reeves chose not to renew a £2.5bn top-up to the UK's overseas aid budget introduced by the Tories to compensate for the huge amount of foreign aid being spent housing refugees and asylum seekers in hotels.

The Treasury announced government departments would spend £13.3bn on overseas development assistance this financial year – meeting its target of spending 0.5% of national income on aid.

Mr Gates, the billionaire co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, called the Budget “a disappointing outcome for the world’s most vulnerable people”.

The Tory foreign aid top-up has been in place for two years - ensuring aid spending in 2023 amounted to 0.58% of national income, some £15.3bn.

Last year, the Home Office spent £4.3bn on asylum seekers in the UK – more than a quarter of the foreign aid budget.

In its so-called “red book” setting out the Budget details, the Treasury acknowledged the government had spent “an increasing proportion” of overseas aid on refugees and asylum seekers which had “significant implications” for aid spending overseas.

“The government is committed to ensuring that asylum costs fall, has taken measures to reduce the asylum backlog and is ending the use of expensive hotel accommodation,” the Treasury said.

“These plans should create more space in the [Official Development Assistance] budget to spend on our international development priorities overseas.”

International aid charities were dismayed at what they said was a cut worth almost £2bn in the UK’s aid priorities overseas.

Following the announcement, Mr Gates said the UK "withdrawing" from its overseas aid role "leaves us all at greater risk".

"Today's Budget is a disappointing outcome for the world’s most vulnerable people," he said in a statement.

"I hope to see the UK chart a path back to the commitments that demonstrate this global outlook in action."

Gideon Rabinowitz, from UK NGO network Bond, accused the government of making a "short-sighted decision" meaning "UK aid will plummet this year".

"We must support asylum seekers, but funding should come from a dedicated budget – not at the expense of other marginalised communities around the world," he said.

Hannah Bond, Co-CEO of ActionAid UK, said she was "profoundly disappointed" in the decision.

"After the previous government took a wrecking ball to projects aimed at tackling gender inequality, Labour is following in their footsteps by further abandoning women and girls when they need it the most," she said.

Shadow foreign secretary Andrew Mitchell called the cut to the international aid budget "shameful, immoral and wrong"

"Labour MPs should not stand for it," the Conservative MP added.

Labour MP Sarah Champion, chair of parliament's International Development Committee, said she was "relieved" the foreign aid budget would no longer be used to pay Home Office costs for housing asylum seekers.

But she called on the government to be "more ambitious" with foreign aid.