Newsnight presenter Victoria Derbyshire confronted a Labour minister over Keir Starmer’s decision to slash international aid to boost defence spending.
She told defence minister Luke Pollard that one of the party’s former frontbenchers had described the decision as “effing awful” and “nuts”.
The prime minister announced yesterday that defence spending would hit 2.5% of gross domestic product (GDP) by 2027, at least three years earlier than planned.
But he also revealed that that the international aid budget will be reduced from 0.5% to 0.3% of GDP to pay for it.
The anouncements came as Starmer prepares to meet Donald Trump – who has demanded European countries spend more on defence – in Washington on Thursday.”
ADVERTISEMENT
On Newsnight on BBC2 last night, Derbyshire told Pollard: “One former Labour minister said this to our political editor about the decision: ’This is effing awful. It’s so short-sighted. It’s not helping the countries that are the source of so many problems.
“It’s nuts. It’s all about preparing for Thursday in the White House. What do you say to that former Labour minister?”
Pollard replied: “I don’t know who that is but I think they’re wrong. We know there are serious threats that our country is facing, we have a manifesto commitment to increase defence spending to 2.5%. We said we’d set out a path for that in the spring, the prime minister has now been clear that we’ll raise defence spending to 2.5% from April 2027and increase it to 3% in the next parliament.
“That I think is a prudent and appropriate response to the threats that we are facing. The first duty of any government, including this Labour government, is to keep our country safe, and that means taking tough decisions, which is what the prime minister has done.”
“One former Labour minister [told our Political Editor] ‘This is ******* awful… it’s nuts, it’s all about preparing for Thursday in the White House'”
Defence Minister Luke Pollard responds to criticism of the Government’s decision to cut aid funding to pay for more defence… pic.twitter.com/OvmoOjlw2H
— BBC Newsnight (@BBCNewsnight) February 25, 2025
Senior Labour figures and aid charities have condemned the decision to slash the aid budget.
ADVERTISEMENT
They include former Labour cabinet minister David Miliband, who is now chief executive of the International Rescue Committee, who said it was a “blow to Britain’s proud reputation as global humanitarian and development leader”.
Related…
EMEA Tribune is not involved in this news article, it is taken from our partners and or from the News Agencies. Copyright and Credit go to the News Agencies, email news@emeatribune.com Follow our WhatsApp verified Channel
