Anneliese Dodds has quit her ministerial job in the government over Keir Starmer's decision to slash the foreign aid budget.Anneliese Dodds has quit her ministerial job in the government over Keir Starmer's decision to slash the foreign aid budget.

Anneliese Dodds has received widespread praise after resigning as the international development minister over a point of principle today.

The Labour MP, who has also left her role as the minister for women and equalities, chose to quit the cabinet after Keir Starmer cut the foreign aid budget so he could boost defence spending.

The prime minister has promised to take defence spending from 2.3% of gross domestic product (GDP) to 2.5% by 2027, and up to 3% by the next parliament.

To make the numbers add up, Starmer announced on Tuesday he was going to reduce spending on international development from 0.5% of GDP to 0.3%.

The sudden move followed US president Donald Trump’s own dramatic cuts to international aid and his demand for Europe to be less dependent on American security support.

Starmer’s announcement was instantly met with fury from charities and Labour backbenchers – and, it now seems, Dodds.

In her resignation letter, she acknowledged “there are no easy paths” to increasing defence spending, but said making the foreign aid budget “absorb the entire burden” would make it “impossible” to stick to Labour’s international commitments.

She said Labour’s support for Gaza, Sudan and Ukraine, vaccination, climate goals, and for rules-based systems would all be jeopardised due to the “depth of the cut” to the sector.

The now-backbencher also noted that the cuts came at a time when Vladimir Putin is looking to expand his influence around the world and the climate crisis is “the biggest security threat of them all”.

While Dodds is Starmer’s fourth ministerial resignation since he was elected to No.10 in July – after Louise Haigh,Tulip Siddiq and Andrew Gwynne – she is the first person to leave his government on a matter of principle.

And that did not go unnoticed online, as Dodds was praised across the political spectrum for standing by her values.

The Liberal Democrats said the MP for Oxford East “has done the right thing” because “the government’s position on the international aid cut is unsustainable”, while Labour figures said she did not have “another option”.

Even former Tory MP and veterans minister Tobias Ellwood said it was a “very courageous and principled resignation”.

However, not everyone was on board with the decision. Some, including Tory leader Kemi Badenoch, said the cut to international aid was the right move.

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