A trio of Christian charities have condemned plans by the British government to chop its aid budgets, warning that hundreds of thousands will die because of this.
The government has said that it intends to scale back aid spending to 0.3 per cent of Gross National Income (GNI) by 2027, which dated back to February 2025 would represent a cut of around £5.5bn.
Tearfund, CAFOD and Christian Aid, all of which have received substantial funding from the federal government, have condemned the choice.
Sam Perriman, head of public policy at Tearfund, said his organisation was “deeply concerned that the shift in spending and the impact of cuts will mean hundreds of thousands of communities living in extreme poverty are made much more vulnerable and left without access to the resources they desperately have to survive”.
By reducing aid and climate funding “hundreds of thousands of avoidable deaths” at the moment are likely, Tearfund said.
These sentiments were echoed by CAFOD and Christian Aid.
CAFODs director of Advocacy, Neil Thorns, said, “Today just isn’t a great day for the UK’s global repute, and it’s the flawed time for the federal government to be breaking its manifesto pledge to be a worldwide climate leader.”
Christian Aid’s head of UK advocacy, Jennifer Larbie, went further, saying, “Today’s deep cuts to the help budget are a political alternative to spice up the defence budget at President Trump’s behest — one which the world’s most vulnerable people pays for with their lives and livelihoods.”
In its 2024/25 annual report, Tearfund confirmed that it received nearly a 3rd of its income (£26.5m out of £80.2m) from each national and international government grants.
Christian Aid said that just over 1 / 4 of its income in 2024/25 got here from “institutional” sources.
CAFOD’s report for 2024/25 stated that its income was £56.2m, of which nearly 1 / 4 (£13.5m) got here from “charitable activities …. due to enhanced funding from governments and other institutional donors”.
Source: https://www.christiantoday.com/news/christian-organisations-condemn-government-aid-cuts
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