Having just seen her resign from the UK government, it’s worth going into who Anneliese Dodds is and her political career.
She was first elected to parliament in 2017, have previously tried to win a seat on numerous occasions, with her day job being as a university lecturer on policy.
She had also been a member of the European Parliament.
After winning her seat, she was shortly after made a shadow treasury minister under Jeremy Corbyn, and stayed in the role until the party’s catastrophic result in the 2019 general election.
After Sir Keir Starmer was made party leader, Ms Dodds was elevated to the rank of shadow chancellor.
But just over a year later, she was ejected from the role and made party chair – a much less central role in the Labour machine.
She held that role – as well as the shadow women and equalities brief – until last year’s election, when Labour entered government.
Ms Dodds remained women and equalities minister, and was also made minister for international development.
Despite not being a secretary of state, she still attended cabinet. It has been reported that she was only told of the decision to cut international aid the day before it was announced to the public.
Development minister quits job over aid cuts to fund defence
Anneliese Dodds, the development minister, has resigned over the government’s cuts to the aid budget to fund a defence rise.
Earlier this week, Sir Keir Starmer revealed that international aid would be cut from 0.5% to 0.3% of GDP, to raise defence funding from 2.3% to 2.5% of GDP.
The move has been criticised by the charity and NGO sectors, as well as former development ministers.
Ms Dodds previously was shadow chancellor under Starmer, but was replaced by Rachel Reeves.
In a letter published on social media, Ms Dodds say she delayed the resignation until Starmer returned from his trip to Washington to meet Donald Trump.
She said: “Ultimately, these cuts will remove food and healthcare from desperate people – deeply harming the UK’s reputation.
“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.”
Ms Dodds said she was ready to work with the PM to increase defence funding from some of the aid budget, but did not expect the “tactical decision” for the whole wedge of money to come from her department.
She also warns the PM against making further “tactical cuts” to public spending will not able to raise the “substantial resources” needed to increase defence funding further.
The now former minister says the promises Starmer made to keep up support in Gaza, Sudan, and Ukraine, and for vaccination, climate and rule-based systems will not be possible due to the “depth of the cut”.
“The effect will be far greater than presented, even if assumptions made about reducing asylum costs hold true.
“The cut will also likely lead to a UK pull-out from numerous African, Caribbean and Western Balkan nations at a time when Russia has been aggressively increasing its global presence.
“It will likely lead to withdrawal from regional banks and a reduced commitment to the World Bank; the UK being shut out of numerous multilateral bodies; and a reduced voice for the UK in the G7, G20 and in climate negotiations.
“All this while China is seeking to rewrite global rules, and when the climate crisis is the biggest security threat of them all.”
Ms Dodds will also be standing down from her role as women and equalities minister – however, she says she will continue to support the government from the backbenches.
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