The UK government has published detailed plans to cut bilateral aid to African nations by more than half over the next three years, reducing spending from £1.6 billion to under £700 million annually and drawing sharp criticism from development organizations, health researchers, and members of Parliament.
The plans, outlined in the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office’s annual report published July 16, would see the UK’s overall aid budget fall from 0.5 percent to 0.3 percent of gross national income through 2029, a cumulative reduction of £6.5 billion.
The hardest-hit nations
The cuts are not evenly distributed. Several African countries face reductions of 80 percent or more:
Kenya, which received £79.5 million in 2025-26, is set to receive just £5 million by 2028-29, a cut of 93 percent. Tanzania faces a 91 percent reduction to £5 million. Malawi drops from £50.2 million to £5 million over three years. Mozambique goes from £50.5 million to £5 million. Zambia, Ghana, Sierra Leone, and Rwanda are all cut to £5 million or less.
Ethiopia, one of the largest recipients, faces a 63 percent cut from £214 million to £80.5 million. Even Somalia, where the UK has long maintained a significant aid presence for security reasons, is reduced by 49 percent to £69.2 million.
Countries cut to zero over the three-year period include Brazil, South Africa, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and Venezuela. Protected from the worst reductions are Sudan (~£146 million), the Occupied Palestinian Territories (£127.4 million), and Ukraine (£240 million).
What is at stake
The cuts affect a wide range of programs, with the heaviest reductions falling on children’s education and women’s health initiatives. Global health programs, including HIV treatment and maternal and child health services, face significant funding gaps. The UK’s contribution to the Green Climate Fund has been cut by roughly half.
Stuart Brown, CEO of the Scotland Malawi Partnership, said the consequences would be severe. “Some of the most vulnerable women, children and families in Malawi will suffer,” he said. “More people will go hungry, the most basic healthcare provision will be diminished, research progress impeded, educational and employment prospects stunted and lives will be lost.”
The impact on research is of particular concern. The cuts affect not only direct health research but the broader scientific infrastructure that UK aid has supported, from agricultural research stations to public health surveillance systems. Aid to least developed countries falls by 49 percent overall.
A political controversy
The cuts were detailed by the Labour government on the last working day before the summer parliamentary recess, a timing that Sarah Champion, the Labour chair of the International Development Committee, called an attempt to avoid scrutiny. “It feels like the government is choosing to avoid scrutiny,” she said.
Development Minister Baroness Jenny Chapman defended the cuts, saying: “We’re making every pound of UK development spending work harder. Focusing on partnerships rather than paternalism.”
But Romilly Greenhill, CEO of the development umbrella organization Bond, said the reductions amount to abandonment. “By slashing UK aid funding, this Labour government is abandoning communities on the frontlines of conflict and the climate crisis.”
Oxfam GB’s Jean Mclean described the move as “taking a wrecking ball to the aid budget at exactly the moment when conflict, humanitarian crises, hunger and climate breakdown are driving global need to record levels.”
Ian Mitchell of the Center for Global Development pointed out a stark comparison: the 10 African countries being cut to £5 million or less have a combined population of more than 130 million people living in extreme poverty. They will collectively receive less funding than the £130 million allocated to UK overseas territories with a combined population of roughly 8,500.
Sources
- Science AAAS: “U.K. government details plan for dramatic aid cuts to African nations” (July 17, 2026)
- FCDO Annual Report & Accounts 2025-26 (July 16, 2026)
- Bond, Oxfam GB, Save the Children UK, Scotland Malawi Partnership (reactions)