FILE - Minister for Women and Equalities Anneliese Dodds leaving 10 Downing Street, London, Jan. 14, 2025. (Lucy North/PA via AP, file)

LONDON (AP) — The British minister responsible for international development quit Friday in the wake of Prime Minister Keir Starmer's decision earlier this week to ramp up defense spending by slashing the foreign aid budget.

In a letter to Starmer, Anneliese Dodds resigned as international development minister and minister for women, saying there were “no easy paths” to increasing defense spending but that she disagreed with the decision to cut overseas aid, which she warned would only lead to China and Russia filling the vacuum.

On Tuesday, Starmer said the government would raise U.K. defense spending to 2.5% of gross domestic product by 2027 from the current 2.3%, saying Europe is in a new era of insecurity that requires a “generational response.”

The increase would be funded by a reduction in the aid budget from 0.5% of GDP to 0.3%, a decision that Starmer, in response to Dodds, described as “difficult and painful.” The cut is worth around 6 billion pounds ($7.6 billion) a year.

In her letter, Dodds said she backed the need for higher defense spending and knew that the aid budget might have to pay for some of that increase. But she said the scale of the cut was so big it will “remove food and health care from desperate people” and “deeply” harm the U.K.’s reputation.

“You have maintained that you want to continue support for Gaza, Sudan and Ukraine; for vaccination; for climate; and for rules-based systems,” said Dodds, who attended meetings of the Cabinet. “Yet it will be impossible to maintain these priorities given the depth of the cut; the effect will be far greater than presented.”

The increase in defense spending drew support from U.S. President Donald Trump but has been sharply criticized by aid agencies, who said funding the rise by cutting development assistance harmed some of the world's poorest people while reducing Britain's soft power.

In her letter, Dodds said she held back from resigning earlier this week when the cut to the aid budget was announced as it was “imperative" Starmer had “a united Cabinet” behind him ahead of his trip to Washington to meet Trump on Thursday.

“It is for that reason that I am only writing to you now that your meeting with President Trump is over," she added.

Dodds said Starmer was not “ideologically opposed” to international development, but that the decision to fund the the increase in defense spending by cutting foreign aid is “already being portrayed as following in President Trump’s slipstream of cuts to USAID.”

In response, Starmer said he was “proud” of Britain's long-time reputation as a leading player in development and that he hoped to be able to one day “rebuild” the country's capability.

“However, protecting our national security must always be the first duty of any government and I will always act in the best interests of the British people.”

News from © The Associated Press, 2025