We welcome the appointment of Ed Miliband as Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs. We also warmly welcome Kirsty McNeill MP to her new role as Minister of State at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.
It is encouraging to see a Foreign Secretary appointed with a strong record of championing climate action and international cooperation.
The new Foreign Secretary takes office at a critical moment. According to the latest State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World report, 2.1 billion people, more than one quarter of the global population, are experiencing moderate or severe food insecurity.
The situation in Africa is particularly alarming. An estimated 309 million people across the continent are now experiencing hunger, up from 171 million in 2010. This reflects a failure of international action and the increasing pressures created by conflict, climate shocks and declining humanitarian and development funding.
The UK’s decision to reduce official development assistance to 0.3% of national income will deepen an already severe global funding crisis.
We urge the new Foreign Secretary to be bold: to champion international development, reverse these deeply harmful decisions and use the forthcoming G20 presidency as an opportunity to reset the UK’s role in the world. The UK will host the G20 in 2027.
The priorities are clear:
- Reverse the reduction of the aid target to 0.3% and establish a credible pathway back to 0.7%.
- Respond to the global funding crisis and protect the quality of UK aid by ending its diversion to cover domestic asylum costs and increasing humanitarian spending.
- Make the prevention and treatment of malnutrition a priority across UK aid and foreign policy.
- Use the UK’s diplomatic influence to break the cycle of conflict and hunger, defend humanitarian access and uphold international humanitarian law.
These are practical steps that could help turn the tide against hunger in places such as Occupied Palestinian Territory and Sudan.
The new Foreign Secretary has an opportunity to restore the UK’s position as a principled and effective force for good. Their leadership will be judged not by rhetoric, but by whether the Government is prepared to protect lives, confront the causes of hunger and reverse decisions that have weakened the UK’s ability to respond.
Action Against Hunger stands ready to work with the new Foreign Secretary and the wider UK Government to achieve these aims.
Our mission to end world hunger goes on.