Britain’s foreign aid cuts have cost ‘thousands of lives’ and ‘damaged’ country’s reputation

The decision to reduce the overseas aid budget has proved ‘disastrous’ and deadly, according to a new study, reports Tom Ambrose

Children gather outside their tents, at al-Hol camp, which houses families of members of the Islamic State group, in Hasakeh (AP)

Thousands of the world’s most vulnerable people have died as a direct consequence of Boris Johnson’s “disastrous” foreign aid cuts, a devastating new report has revealed.

As well as the humanitarian cost of slashing the UK’s overseas aid budget from 0.7 per cent to 0.5 per cent of gross national income (GNI), the cuts have decimated Britain’s “soft power” in countries like war-torn Syria.

An exclusive survey of 1,115 displaced Syrians – 715 internally displaced and 400 refugees living in makeshift camps in Lebanon – by the charity Syria Relief found that 95 per cent were worried about British foreign aid cuts. A further 93 per cent admitted their opinion of the UK had deteriorated as a result.