The Future of UK Development Policy

The UK was once seen as a leader in international development, but amid a series of crises, including the COVID-19 pandemic and spikes in energy and food prices triggered by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, it has stepped back in recent years, with major aid cuts, a reduced focus on the poorest countries, and over a quarter of its aid budget being now spent in the UK. Where should the UK development policy go from here? 

CGD has elevated leading voices across the political spectrum in a series of conversations, including with the current Minister of State for Development and Africa Andrew Mitchell and former Shadow Secretary of State for International Development Preet Gill, to set out their vision for the UK’s role on a global stage. 

And with the next UK general elections scheduled for July 4, CGD colleagues are also presenting proposals and recommendations for what the UK’s future role in international development should be. Explore our work—from innovative policy proposals, to recent events, as well as more in depth research, below: 

More from the Series

Blog Post
Money, Ministries, Motives, and Meh: How Might the Election Change UK Development Policy?
June 20, 2024
The UK election is at hand. The campaign has been dominated by questions of what might change in the UK (or not). But there’s been relatively little attention on overseas and specifically, foreign and development policy. What are the main political parties pledging?
Blog Post
How Labour Should Do International Development: Five Things to Prioritise
March 14, 2024
Since the absorption of the Department for International Development (DFID) into the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, there has been a clear pattern in the fortunes of the development function of the department, every decision taken made the UK’s development function worse: less impactful, less effi...
Blog Post
DFID 2.0…? Some Wild-ish Speculation on UK Development Cooperation, 2025-2030
February 27, 2024
In the UK context the main discussion of UK development policy amid all of these headwinds has been around the current government’s new ‘white paper’, which seeks to set UK development policy to 2030 and tried to be cross-party. That said, it could have a very short shelf life as presumably any inco...
Blog Post
Will a New (Labour) UK Chancellor Do Any More for Global Development?
February 07, 2024
In the coming weeks, the official opposition party—Labour—is expected to be granted access to civil servants to discuss their policy agenda to enable planning. Election manifestos will also be finalised shortly. But will Labour do any more for global development than the Conservatives have?
Blog Post
Doing Development Better: How Should the ‘D’ in FCDO Be Organized?
January 25, 2024
We set out and assess in the UK context the four broad models that have been used to manage development arrangements by most OECD donor countries.

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The UK Role in Global Health: Present Challenges and Future Directions
January 23, 2024
2024 marks a crucially important year for the world’s health, shaped by an economic and social polycrisis and recovery from COVID-19. Collective efforts, development assistance, and global solidarity are more important than ever. The UK once enjoyed a strong reputation in global health, but this has...
POLICY PAPERS
What Could the UK’s Future Development Structure Look Like?
January 25, 2024
Reform of the UK development structure is necessary to restore the effectiveness of the UK’s development function. How reforms are implemented will determine their success.