Rob Merrick

“They make callous cuts”

“We reallocate resources”

“Your job is to decide which tens of thousands of people will die because of my shameful aid cuts”

The reality of the PM’s brief for the new international development minister

Who fancies it ?

Wow!! UK to slash aid spending to 0.3% of GNI from 2027

Announced by a Labour government - the party that calls itself the party of international development

David Lammy also refuses to guarantee that the aid budget will not be cut....

"I believe we should move from freezing assets to seizing assets"

David Lammy gives UK backing to using Russia's billions in EU banks to boost Ukraine's war effort - following the US abandoning Kyiv

Development minister Anneliese Dodds declines to answer a question about whether the UK is considering cutting its aid budget below 0.5% of GNI - to fund higher defence spending.....

No-one, NO-ONE gets to tell @georgewparker.bsky.social to 'fuck off'

This can't be allowed to stand

Tory leader Kemi Badenoch calls opponents of new oil & gas fields (which experts agree is vital to tackle the climate emergency)......."eco-nutters"

Yes really

UK development minister Anneliese Dodds declines to criticise Trump's total shutdown of US aid.....

“He was elected by the US population with millions of votes - it’s ultimately a US policy decision” she tells MPs

Scoop: NGOs told cuts are coming as UK slashes conflict funding Spending on peacebuilding in fragile states is set to plunge by £117 million under a new focus on “national security,” including maritime power, cybersecurity, and artificial intelligence.

Another eg of Labour sticking to the previous government's approach - shifting funding from work to prevent or reduce conflict to 'national security' concerns

Which means a 33% cut next year - despite ever more conflict across the globe.....

www.devex.com/news/scoop-n...

The lies spread by far right politicians and extremists to provoke August's racist riots worked

That's the depressing conclusion

British Council could go bust, boss of peace-building veteran warns The 90-year-old development and anti-disinformation institution contemplates its pull-out from 40 countries — and worse — because of an unrepayable COVID-19 loan.

UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy has set up a 'Soft Power Council' - calling soft power "fundamental to the UK’s impact and reputation around the world"

Meanwhile....

www.devex.com/news/british...

OECD nations ignore call to curb raiding of aid budgets for refugees Rich donors were urged to “act on the side of caution” before spending aid cash at home — but 14.6% of ODA did not leave their borders in 2023.

Wealthy nations send development aid to poorer ones right?

Not quite - $1 in every $7 of rich countries' 'international aid' is spent within their own borders. The OECD urged them to think again. This is what happened next.....

www.devex.com/news/oecd-na...

Badenoch criticises Tory handling of Brexit In her first major speech of 2025, Badenoch acknowledges the Conservatives

This is a big moment - the Conservative leader confessing her party had no plan for Brexit.....hence the disaster that followed

Of course, 9 years later - still no-one has a plan

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

WATCH: Liz Truss accuses Labour of 'smearing' her and plunging Britain into 'economic crisis' Former Prime Minister Liz Truss has launched a scathing attack on Labour Chancellor Rachel Reeves, accusing her of pushing Britain "to the brink of economic crisis".In a new video statement, Truss bla...

“The captain of the Titanic has slammed rowers in two paddle boats that bumped in Hyde Park lake” 🙄

5 years after UK aid merger, 60% of development adviser jobs are empty FCDO admits it is still failing to replace expertise lost when DFID was axed in 2020 — with 60% of adviser roles left vacant last year.

Think the staffing chaos triggered by the axing of the UK's international aid department is over?

Think again.....

www.devex.com/news/5-years...