CARE International UK responds to Government aid allocations

"Today's announcement lays bare the consequences of political choices made in Westminster: people will die. Millions more will be put at risk as these cuts strip away projects that protect girls from child marriage and prevent gender-based violence.

"We recognise that the Foreign Secretary has sought to soften these impacts by protecting some key programmes supporting women and girls' rights. In rightly establishing women and girls as a foreign policy priority, she has listened to warnings from women's rights leaders, CARE and our partners who have spent the past year raising the alarm about growing global attacks on these rights.

"But the truth is her actions can only ever paper over the cracks created by the Prime Minister's profoundly short-sighted decision to cut the aid budget in the first place.

"Given the pace and scale of these cuts, the Foreign Secretary must now ensure the UK's G20 Presidency uses every lever available - including debt reform and UK legislation - to secure fairer, more accountable finance for the poorest countries and deliver real progress on gender equality."