Don’t cut Yemen aid
A few days ago, the United Nations aid chief Mark Lowcock — a former British permanent secretary at the Department for International Development — made a gut-wrenching announcement: unless the people of Yemen, currently suffering the world’s largest humanitarian crisis, get the support they need, we will bear witness to “the worst famine the world has seen for decades”.
It is in this context that, as we report this morning, the UK Government is potentially more than halving its aid budget to the country, from £187million this year to £90million.
Such devastating cuts will only worsen an appealing humanitarian catastrophe and should not be allowed to happen. However, it cannot be said to be surprising; the cuts are the inevitable consequence of the Government’s decision to reduce foreign aid spending from 0.7 per cent of national income to 0.5 per cent.
While the UK remains one of the world’s most generous donors, the cuts amount to £4billion — on top of the roughly £2.9billion due to Covid-19 depressing GDP — and will worsen the unimaginable hardship in Yemen.
The UK can proudly point to its status as the biggest giver of aid to the crisis, helping half a million people to buy food and essentials every month. We must not turn our backs now.
