Burnham plans £13bn boost to foreign aid - making tax rises more likely

Andy Burnham and his Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband have privately committed to reversing cuts to Britain’s aid budget – in a move likely to heap further pressure on the Treasury to raise taxes.

The i Paper understands that the pair have privately indicated that they support finding a route back to spending 0.7 per cent of Gross National Income (GNI) on international aid. However, no timeframe has yet been put on how long it will take before such a spending commitment can be met.

The UK’s foreign aid budget helps fund humanitarian relief, healthcare, education and development projects in poorer countries around the world.Labour opposed cuts to the foreign aid budget under the Conservative government and ahead of the the 2024 election, promised to restore it to 0.7 per cent when circumstances permitted.

Shorts

But after becoming Prime Minister, Keir Starmer went further in the opposite direction, announcing in February 2025 that aid would be cut from 0.5 per cent to 0.3 per cent of GNI by 2027, using the savings to increase defence spending.