Foreign Affairs Committee Chair: Foreign Office budget “stretched thin” and cuts “alarming”

Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Dame Emily Thornberry MP, said: 

"At a time when Britain is back on the world stage, and has never been more needed as a force for good, it is very concerning that the FCDO appears to be suffering the harshest real-terms cuts. We will be looking very closely at this to make sure that, once the already-announced ODA cuts have been accounted for, the Foreign Office is not suffering major further cutbacks.

“The Foreign Office maintains a presence across the globe and does so with a budget that has been stretched thin over many years. I am deeply concerned about the strain that this Spending Review will place on the entirety of the department. Real-term cuts to the Foreign Office budget are alarming and inconsistent with the Government’s objective to position the UK as a leader on the world stage. 

“Britain punches well above its weight when it comes to soft power and diplomacy. The Spending Review provided no clarity or concrete commitment to fund the British Council and the BBC World Service, both of which rely heavily on FCDO funding and do a huge amount of heavy lifting when it comes to our soft power offering. If we aren’t proactive in maintaining our global influence, we can expect our standing to diminish, and for autocratic states to fill the vacuum we leave.  

“Only last week the Defence Secretary warned that we are in a new era of threat. Yet maintaining global security isn’t just about funding our military. Diplomacy plays an essential role in peacebuilding and conflict resolution – and the UK must maintain its footprint to be able to perform this role.  

“The Spending Review points to ODA cuts as a factor in the reduction of the Foreign Office’s overall budget, yet we know that the department has already been forced to sell off its historic, diplomatic estate to keep the lights on.  

“In the coming months, I and my colleagues on the Foreign Affairs Committee will scrutinise these figures to assess the impact this will have.”

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Image: House of Commons/Laurie Noble