Ministers 'asleep at the wheel' on UK soft power, says adviser

Ministers are being accused of being "asleep at the wheel" over threats to the UK's soft power around the world, as some of their own advisers warn that a funding crisis is undermining key institutions promoting British influence.

- Michael Savage Kiran Stacey

Members of the government's new soft power council, set up by ministers earlier this year, say the BBC World Service, the British Council and universities - regarded as being at the forefront of the UK's soft power efforts - all face major financial pressures.

There are concerns that the institutions could suffer further in next week's spending review, despite ministers facing calls to "step up" their soft power efforts. The warning comes in the context of Donald Trump defunding US soft power institutions just as Russia and China spend billions to increase their influence and bring countries into their orbit.

Vivienne Stern, the chief executive of Universities UK, who sits on the council, warned that when compared with China's soft power efforts "through investment and things like scholarships, media, music and cultural efforts, you just think, we're asleep at the wheel".

She added: "We've got this position which we have inherited, which we believe to be our divine right - it's not. You have to work to maintain it. I've benefited from having the British Council's support around the world as the university sector tries to extend its links. Yet we're knocking lumps out of it. We need to wake up."

Tristram Hunt, the director of the Victoria and Albert Museum and another council member, said the British Council, which boosts Britain's cultural and educational relations overseas, was facing an "existential crisis" exacerbated by a £200m Covid-era government loan.