Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rishi Sunak, said the COVID-19 pandemic caused an “economic emergency.”
Addressing the UK parliament on Wednesday, Sunak set out state spending plans.
He warned that unemployment will hit 7.5% in the worst recession for 300 years as he tried to balance more support for jobs with paying back the huge debts the country has built up,
The British chancellor moved to cut the foreign development budget in an effort to tackle the economic crisis.
However, his decision to slash the foreign aid budget prompted an immediate backlash, with the Church of England, senior Tories and campaigners all condemning the cut. The chancellor said he had little choice.
“Our health emergency is not yet over and our economic emergency has only just begun,” Sunak said. “Our immediate priority is to protect people’s lives and livelihoods.”
Some Tories warned that cutting foreign aid will hamper renewed efforts to display Britain’s global role just as Brexit takes effect.
Junior foreign office minister Liz Sugg resigned, telling the Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, it was “fundamentally wrong” to cut aid spending.
“This promise should be kept in the tough times as well as the good,” Sugg said in her resignation letter to Johnson.(Bloomberg/Aledeh)
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