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Presented today to @CommonsIDC on ODA cuts. Main points I made (or would have liked to make):
1. A reminder these cuts are not a fiscal necessity, but a political choice. Costs of borrowing are at historic lows. And UK increasing spending on defence
1. A reminder these cuts are not a fiscal necessity, but a political choice. Costs of borrowing are at historic lows. And UK increasing spending on defence
2. It took 8 years to ramp up ODA spend to hit 0.7% commitment in 2013. Planning cuts to take it back down to 0.5% in just one year will be brutal
3. Cuts also mean that UK will have almost zero space to make meaningful new commitments at G7. 'We're relatively still doing a lot' is not a strong rallying cry.
4. That said, cuts could be done relatively well or badly. @marcus_manuel shows that certain countries will continue to rely on aid for the basic provision of services https://www.odi.org/publications/17516-financing-reduction-extreme-poverty-post-covid
5. And @scepticalranil on some specific programmes that could be cut with minimal development impact https://www.cgdev.org/blog/kindest-cuts-all
6. Also in prioritising important to remember that ODA not necessarily best instrument to resolve global challenges. e.g. cutting fossil fuel subsidies could be more effective than increasing ODA to address climate change
Much of this summarised here 
https://www.odi.org/blogs/17610-lessons-uk-spending-review
https://www.odi.org/blogs/17610-lessons-uk-spending-review
