In Sri Lanka, the ISF’s project to remove landmines in the region could also be under threat. A spokesperson for the HALO post-conflict NGO said they were concerned about potential cuts to ISF funding.
“Any reductions in funding will also delay the timeline for the country to become mine free — which could be achieved by 2030 if current funding levels were fully sustained,” they said, adding: “The U.K. has played a leading role in supporting Sri Lanka getting to this stage for the past 19 years.”
Lewis Brooks, U.K. policy and advocacy adviser at conflict prevention organization Saferworld, said: “The ripple effect of cuts to these programs could be devastating for efforts to halt the spread of conflict and insecurity.
“Any single one of the programs would have multiple projects now at risk, for example de-mining projects; dialogs to get warring factions to commit to peace; counter-smuggling efforts; support to women preventing conflict escalation in their communities.
“Replicated across dozens of volatile and insecure regions [this] puts lives of some of the most vulnerable at risk and potentially fuels instability,” he added.
National security refresh
June will see a flurry of major foreign policy and national security moments for Keir Starmer’s government. Departmental budgets for 2026/27 onward are set be decided as part of Reeves’ government-wide spending review, while Starmer has committed to a new national security strategy to be published before the summer’s NATO summit.
This is expected to take in recommendations from a glut of other reviews which Labour has committed to since joining office, including audits of resilience, strategic defense, the AUKUS submarine tie-up with Australia and the U.S., international development, China and Africa policies, extremism and state threats.
These will decide the future of the ISF, with its chosen projects offering a sign of how and where Britain feels it needs to intervene abroad as Europe steps up its defense obligations in the face of a U.S. administration that is turning its attention to the Pacific.
