'Britons are NOT safe!' Zia Yusuf despairs at 'eye-watering' £250billion foreign aid bill amid UK's defence crisis

Georgia Pearce
Tue, 14 Apr 2026 13:27:36 +0000

Zia Yusuf has launched a scathing attack on the "staggering" sums directed overseas as part of foreign aid, rather than towards Britain's armed forces, as the Labour Government faces mounting pressure to bolster the nation's defences.

Speaking to GB News, Reform UK's Home Affairs Spokesman pointed to "approximately £250billion" in foreign aid distributed by successive Conservative and Labour administrations over two decades.

"A quarter of a trillion pounds, the numbers are eye-watering," Mr Yusuf stated.

"Imagine what kind of military hardware we could purchase for that? Imagine the state of readiness we could have in our troops, in our Navy and special forces and our Air Force if that money had been spent on hard power instead of this insane concept of soft power?"

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Mr Yusuf launched a sharp attack on the Conservative Party's defence record during their time in office.

He accused the Tories of slashing military expenditure from 2.7 per cent of GDP whilst simultaneously allowing welfare costs to balloon.

He told GB News: "They took defence spending percentage of GDP down from 2.7 per cent, crushed the number of troops this country has and hollowed out our military so that we can't even deploy a destroyer on any sensible time frame."

The Reform spokesman argued that Conservative governments had pursued precisely the opposite approach to what was needed, expanding the welfare budget whilst undermining Britain's military capabilities.

Reform UK has positioned itself as the party of robust defence investment, with Mr Yusuf noting they were "the first" to be advocating for three per cent of GDP allocated to the military, even before the previous general election.

"I think ultimately it's going to have to go even above that," he said, suggesting the figure may need to rise further still.

The spokesman emphasised that economic expansion would be essential to fund such ambitious military commitments.

He argued that Britain must prioritise hard power in the current global climate, with Reform committed to "rebuilding and rearming the nation" to compete internationally under Nigel Farage's leadership.

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Mr Yusuf reserved particular criticism for Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch, accusing her of attempting to distance herself from her party's record in Government.

"Kemi Badenoch is sort of going around creating an entirely new Tory manifesto, which literally just entails reversing all of the things they did in their 14 years in Government," he said.

The Reform spokesman maintained that the British public are not currently safe, arguing that his party's approach would ruthlessly prioritise national interests.

He expressed confidence that Mr Farage would deliver the rebuilding and rearmament Britain requires as Prime Minister.

He told GB News: "Enough of this. What Reform have said is that we're living in an era now where it's hard power that matters and we've got to look out ruthlessly for the British people's interests and make people safe in this country.

"They're not safe at the moment for obvious reasons, so we think Britain needs to rebuild, rearm and compete on the world stage. That's what Nigel will do as Prime Minister."

Ex-Nato chief Lord George Robertson has accused Sir Keir Starmer of "corrosive complacency", warning Britain's national security is now "in peril".

The Prime Minister has hit back at Lord Robertson's remarks, saying he "completely rejects" claims that Britain is under-prepared and not safe.