United Kingdom: Soft Power

Lord Callanan Excerpts

Tuesday 15th July 2025 Lords Chamber

[Lord Collins of Highbury (Lab)]

The noble Baroness is right: we should not underestimate the importance of the World Service and its reach. It has exceeded the target we set for it, to reach 306 million people, so we know how important it is. The noble Baroness makes a really important point. We need a fully funded World Service and a long-term, sustainable solution, and we think the upcoming BBC charter review is the right place to do that. I hear what the noble Baroness says about radio frequencies. Certainly, any change to broadcasting radio facilities is subject to dialogue with the FCDO.

[Lord Callanan (Con)]

My Lords, while soft power is of course a vital instrument for advancing the UK’s values and global influence, there is another side to it. Therefore, I want to ask the Minister what assessment the Government have made of the ways in which soft power can be used also by hostile states, such as Russia, Iran and China, to undermine democratic societies, including our own, and what steps the Government are taking to mitigate these risks.

[Lord Collins of Highbury (Lab)]

We have had many debates in the House about this, certainly about malign influence and misinformation, particularly in the use of social media and other forms of communication that have not been mediated through journalists and fact-checking. The noble Lord is absolutely right. We obviously need to take proper countermeasures in terms of security. That is what the national security review is doing, and I know the noble Lord had questions about that. However, the context of the debate—and it is why my noble friend’s Question is so important—is about being positive about our soft power, not seeing it as being particularly about defence and security but seeing it as being about how we can spread our values about how we work, particularly supporting economic growth.