Dear Prime Minister,
Looking to the government to restore the aid budget and actively participate in the International Panel on Inequality
We are the UK Section of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF UK).
WILPF’s mission is to build a global peace by addressing the root causes of violence, conflict and inequality. In May 2026 we wrote to the Foreign Secretary to add our voice to the many concerned about the impact of the government’s slashing of the aid budget to 0.3% on some of the world’s poorest countries which aid agencies have described as leaving “the UK’s reputation in tatters, and a poorer, more unequal and unstable world for us all”. (Sadly, we did not receive any response to this letter.)
The aid cuts have a significantly greater impact on women and children in the Global South and as health and education services fail to meet their needs – seen most recently in the experience of Democratic Republic of Congo in relation to the Ebola crisis.
More recently we are aware of the open letter from many prominent experts calling for the UK government to help create a new International Panel on Inequality (IPI) which is being developed at the United Nations. Appreciating your stated commitment to addressing inequality in the UK, they pointed out, “inequality is also a global issue, becoming more entrenched as the geopolitical climate destabilises”. The new body will track extreme wealth disparities and recommend global policy solutions.
We join with others to urge you to use the UK’s turn to chair the G20 economic policy forum next year to demonstrate your leadership of the world stage, collaborating with international colleagues from Brazil, South Africa, Norway and Spain in taking this initiative forward.
As part of this leadership, early progress on restoring the UK’s aid programme to 0.7 GDP will be important and will make a significant impact on the problems currently being faced by our partners in the Global South.
We look forward to hearing from you on the government’s plans for the restoration of the aid budget and for involvement in the International Panel of Inquiry.
Yours in peace