UK development minister quits over PM's aid budget cuts

Humanitarian charities said they were "stunned" and "appalled" by the decision, warning it would damage UK influence and have a devastating effect on those they support.

Dodds said in a resignation letter posted on X that the depth of the cuts would make it impossible to maintain the UK's development priorities, including in the Gaza Strip, Sudan and Ukraine.

"Ultimately, these cuts will remove food and healthcare from desperate people - deeply harming the UK's reputation," she wrote in the letter.

"I know you have been clear that you are not ideologically opposed to international development. But the reality is that this decision is already being portrayed as following in President Trump's slipstream of cuts to USAID."

The UK's foreign office, which oversees development, did not immediately comment.