This week’s Autumn Budget represents a missed opportunity to act at a time when global hunger is escalating and the humanitarian system is being pushed to a breaking point. The UK Governmentis yet to set out a roadmap for restoring UK aid spending to 0.7 per cent of national income and is currently on course to fall short of even its reduced commitment of 0.3 per cent by 2027.
Analysis by Bond, the UK network for NGOs in our sector, shows that despite improved economic forecasts, the Government has failed to adjust its aid budget as it should. Importantly, as a result, UK aid spending in 2027 is now projected to fall £320 million short of the Government’s own reduced 0.3 per cent target. At a time of unprecedented humanitarian need, failing to meet even this significantly reduced commitment shows a lack of progress and leadership that the UK Government committed to.
Just a month ago, Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband said that Britain must fight for its values, and stand against injustice and suffering. Failing to honour even the Government’s existing aid commitments, let alone setting out a credible path towards restoring 0.7 per cent, does not align with this.
The UK is already planning some of the deepest proportional aid reductions in the G7. No other country is cutting aid as much as the UK is.
Rather than demonstrating the international leadership the Government has promised, zero commitment to reverse this trajectory sends a damaging signal to the world. Britain should be setting an example for others to follow, not contributing to nor winning a global race to the bottom on international aid.
Across Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Sudan, more than 80 million people are experiencing acute food insecurity according to our Hunger Hotspots report for 2025. In 2025, famine conditions were confirmed in both Gaza and Sudan, which is an unprecedented development in modern humanitarian food-security monitoring. Over the decade from 2016 to 2025, the number of people experiencing acute food insecurity more than doubled from 105 million to 266 million. That is an increase of 153 per cent according to the 2026 Global Report on Food Crisis.
The UK Government has previously recognised that standing up against global hunger and supporting those caught in crises caused by conflict and climate change is a fundamental part of its moral purpose. Yet planned cuts to aid in some of the world’s most fragile and conflict-affected countries – 35 per cent reduction in aid to the DRC, 46 per cent to South Sudan and 39 per cent to Afghanistan – risk undermining that commitment, leaving millions of vulnerable people without the support they desperately need.
It is unacceptable.
The Government must urgently commit to meeting its 0.3 per cent target in full, address the projected £320 million shortfall and publish a credible, gradual roadmap back to 0.7 per cent. At a time when humanitarian needs are growing and resources are shrinking, the UK must demonstrate that its commitment to tackling hunger and protecting the world’s most vulnerable people is backed by action, not just words.