Labour's new Development Minister, Kirsty McNeill, has committed to more than doubling the party's spending on foreign aid, a move that would represent a significant increase in annual expenditure. McNeill stated she is "is a huge believer in aid" and reaffirmed Labour's manifesto pledge to return to allocating 0.7 percent of the UK's national income for overseas development.
This commitment comes at a time when Labour is facing scrutiny over its defense spending targets. While the party plans to increase defense spending from 2.6 percent to 2.7 percent of GDP by the end of the decade, McNeill's focus is on aid.
"I'm a huge believer in aid; I'm a huge believer in the quality of British aid, and when you have more of it, you can have more impact," McNeill told The Guardian. She also indicated a desire to "press for reform of some of the international bodies that spend UK aid" and to maximize the effectiveness of existing budgets.
McNeill emphasized that both development and climate change initiatives will be central to British policy. The pledge to increase aid spending from its current level of 0.3 percent of Gross National Income (GNI) to 0.7 percent was originally made in Labour's 2024 manifesto. Under the previous Conservative government, aid spending was reduced to 0.5 percent, and further cut to 0.3 percent under Sir Keir Starmer's leadership to prioritize defense.
Meeting the 0.7 percent target would mean an additional annual expenditure of approximately £11 billion, adding to the roughly £9.2 billion projected for foreign aid in 2027. This contrasts with a recently agreed £4 billion increase for defense spending.
McNeill's remarks preceded a speech at the New Economics Foundation, where she was expected to outline Labour's approach to international development, focusing on "mutual interest and shared resilience" as key to addressing global challenges that no single country can solve alone.