Neil Shastri-Hurst: Foreign aid is UK National Defence and we really can’t afford to retreat

Dr Neil Shastri-Hurst is MP for Solihull West and Shirley.

In a world where threats are evolving faster than ever before, we must be clear-eyed about one thing: the frontlines of Britain’s national security don’t start at Dover—they begin in fragile states, in conflict zones, and in regions where China and other hostile regimes are quietly expanding their reach.

Too often, foreign aid is seen as a feel-good afterthought – nice to have, but dispensable when belts tighten at home. But as someone who has served both in uniform and now in Parliament, I can say with certainty: smart, targeted international assistance is one of our strongest weapons in the fight for global stability and British security.

The reality is stark. When the UK and our allies step back, China steps in.

From Africa to the Indo-Pacific, Beijing is flooding the developing world with debt-laden infrastructure deals, grabbing natural resources, and exporting its authoritarian image under the guise of development and aid. What we’re witnessing is not generosity—it’s a calculated power grab. The intention to drive a wedge between the ‘developing South’ and the West sits at the very heart of the Chinese Communist Party’s international policy.

A vacuum created by the West’s retreat is being filled by those who do not share our values, and who actively seek to undermine the international order we helped build.

I heard in Washington last week that Chinese state enterprises are increasingly dominant in mineral-rich lands, sometimes buying up territory in places like Nigeria, Ethiopia, and Namibia where Western governments have failed to step up.

Aid, when strategically deployed, can help diversify supply chains and secure our access to critical minerals – essential for our clean energy, tech, and defence industries. Right now, China controls vast swathes of cobalt production in the Congo and is rapidly expanding its grip on other mineral-rich regions. Without Western support to build governance and de-risk private investment in these countries, there is a danger of leaving entire supply chains – and our strategic autonomy – at the mercy of the Chinese Communist Party.

At nearly every meeting I had in Washington DC and Missouri, from the World Bank, to Governors, to Senators, the discussion turned to the increasingly aggressive actions of China on the international stage, and their sole aim of rewriting the global order in favour of authoritarian regimes. The dismantling of USAID and UK Aid leaves the global system fragmented and dangerously exposed.

Cutting development budgets may score short-term political points, but the long-term costs are devastating. Without Western aid, nations become more vulnerable to economic collapse, disease, and radicalisation. In the next decade, 1.2 billion people in the Global South will become working age adults, but only 420 million jobs will be created, forcing people towards extremism and crime. Where there are no jobs, terrorist groups  recruit. Where there is no hope, instability thrives. And where the UK and US once stood as pillars of support, authoritarian regimes now offer lifelines with strings attached.

Let’s be clear: this is not about charity. It’s about ensuring that countries align with us, not with those who seek to reshape the world order in their image.

We must also do a better job of making the case for aid to the British public. Too often, we talk in abstract percentages – 0.5 percent, 0.7 percent – when what we need is a real story of why this matters to people at home. Aid creates jobs by unlocking new markets. It reduces migration pressures. It helps dismantle the very conditions that breed extremism and conflict. If we don’t invest in stability overseas, we will pay the price on our own streets.

Let’s not delude ourselves. This isn’t aid in the traditional sense.

This is 21st-century geopolitical competition. And we are in danger of losing. Authoritarian regimes like China and Russia are stepping into the void the West is leaving. They are not doing so to save lives, but to secure loyalties, buy silence on human rights abuses, and build long-term strategic leverage.

One of the clearest examples is in the field of global nutrition. Food insecurity is a direct driver of instability – where hunger thrives, so too does desperation, unrest, and the breakdown of social order. As the UK and US scale back funding for life-saving treatments like Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food (RUTF), we risk fuelling the very conditions that lead to conflict, extremism, and forced migration.

The consequences are dire. In regions like northern Nigeria, where extremist groups such as Boko Haram operate, hunger is not just a tragedy – it is a recruitment tool. Parents facing the unimaginable choice between starvation and survival are more easily exploited. Malnutrition doesn’t just kill – it destabilises. And when a child’s brain is stunted by hunger, so too is their country’s future.

If we are serious about protecting our values, defending our interests, and holding our ground on the global stage, then we must treat foreign aid as part of our national security toolkit. That means aligning development policy with our diplomatic and defence goals, and ensuring Britain remains an influential force for good in the world.

Because when we retreat, the authoritarian playbook advances.

And in this global contest for influence, passivity is not a neutral act – it is surrender.