Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to the Prime Minister's Oral Statement of 25 February 2025 on Defence and Security, Official Report, from which financial year will the proposed cuts to official development assistance be implemented.

The Prime Minister announced in Parliament on 25 February that he is bringing forward the UK commitment to reach 2.5 per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) on defence spending by 2027. On top of the 2.5 per cent, an extra 0.1 per cent in security services support, taking the total to 2.6 per cent.

Doing so demands the difficult but necessary decision to reduce our Official Development Assistance (ODA) spending from 0.5 per cent of Gross National Income (GNI) to 0.3 per cent of GNI by 2027 to respond to pressing security challenges.

Detailed decisions on ODA spending will be worked through as part of the ongoing Spending Review.