BBC World Service

Lord West of Spithead Excerpts

Monday 2nd June 2025 Lords Chamber

[Lord Collins of Highbury (Lab)]

The BBC has certain editorial responsibilities, but the right reverend Prelate knows my commitment to freedom of religion and belief, and our appointment of the special envoy is evidence of that. Ensuring that news and views are available across all opinions, and across all religions, is vital in a world where so many conflicts can be driven by misinformation.

[Lord West of Spithead (Lab)]

My Lords, while it is absolutely right that defence and security are more than just arms, I say as an aside before I ask my question that actually having nuclear submarines means that you beat the blighters you are fighting against at sea, and that is quite useful at times as well, when you really have to do it. But my question to my noble friend the Minister is to do with BBC Monitoring, which is crucial in handling operations and crises as they happen. I remember, as a former Chief of Defence Intelligence, that it gives immense insight, and it has been squeezed and squeezed. Are we content that there is a sufficient funding bracket in place for that?

[Lord Collins of Highbury (Lab)]

My noble friend is absolutely right about the importance of that monitoring, and the challenges of a multipolar, global geopolitical situation mean that it is even more important. Maybe in the past it was relatively simple, but monitoring a whole range of activities— particularly of malign states and malign non-state organisations—is really important, so we are absolutely committed to that.