Even if these costs were halved in 2027 through a mix of fewer asylum seekers, and lowering the cost of housing each asylum seeker, Mitchell calculates, the UK would still only be spending 0.23% of UK national income in 2027 on overseas aid, the lowest ever share of national income since records began in 1960.
“We implore you to reverse this decision before significant damage is done to both the UK’s development and humanitarian work and its global reputation,” said the letter organised by Bond, an umbrella organisation for UK overseas aid groups.
Sir Keir Starmer is to take UK overseas aid to its lowest level as a percentage of national income since records began, even if he manages to halve the current £4.5bn cost of housing asylum seekers.
Areas likely to be affected by UK aid cuts include climate change finance, humanitarian aid programmes, including in Yemen, and funding for Gavi, the Bill Gates-backed global vaccination programme.
If the per-head refugee costs remain at their current level, official development assistance costs for refugees would be closer to £3bn in 2027, and aid not spent on refugees in the UK would fall to 0.20% of GNP.
