More than half of those surveyed thought that aid spending was worthwhile if it helped to boost the UK economy (58%) and protect national security (55%) respectively, while almost two thirds (63%) thought that sending aid to poorer countries was worthwhile if it helps protect the UK against pandemics like Covid-19 or bird flu.
The British public want spending on overseas aid to be based on British national interests, not those of its international allies, a new poll suggests.
Conleth Burns, associate director at More in Common, said: “The British public want their aid to be driven by what’s best for the national interest – whether that’s the economy or our national security.
Earlier this week, the Prime Minister announced an increase to 2.5% of GDP for defence spending by 2027 would be funded by slashing development assistance aid from its current level of 0.5% of gross national income to 0.3%.
“While there is an unanswerable case for increasing defence spending, the evidence shows that doing this at the expense of international aid increases health and security risks to the UK in the long run.”.
