The Baroness Sugg , A member of the House of Lords of the United Kingdom resigned from the United Kingdom Government through a letter addressed to the Prime Minister Boris Johnson, dated 25th November 2020.
In the first line of the letter it said “It is with sadness that I write to resign from the Government.”
Baroness Sugg is the Minister for the Overseas Territories and Sustainable Development. Her resignation is in protest of the UK Government’s decision to cut overseas aid spending.
Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced that foreign aid expenditure would be cut from 0.7 per cent of national income to 0.5 per cent.
Baroness Sugg in her resignation letter “Many in our country face severe challenges as a result of the pandemic and I know the Government must make very difficult choices in response,”
“But I believe it is fundamentally wrong to abandon our commitment to spend 0.7 per cent of gross national income on development.”
She explained that the United Kingdom’s commitment towards foreign aid should be kept even through tough times, in this instance, the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic.
She said “This promise should be kept in the tough times as well as the good. Given the link between our development spend and the health of our economy, the economic downturn has already led to significant cuts this year and I do not believe we should reduce our support further at a time of unprecedented global crises.”
She continued ” Cutting UK aid risks undermining your efforts to promote a Global Britain and will diminish our power to influence other nations to do what is right. I cannot support or defend this decision. It is therefore right that I tender my resignation.”