British Council letter to Prime Minister gains cross-party support

John Baron MP: Government must close £10 million shortfall

The British Council has a key role in promoting British culture and the English language overseas, and is one of the key reasons why the UK is often referred to as a ‘soft power superpower’.

However, there is currently a £10 million shortfall between the support the Government has provided to keep the institution afloat during the pandemic and the costs of running the British Council’s international network. As the FCDO will not make good on this shortfall, the British Council will be required to close a number of its overseas offices and cut back on its international programming. This will damage our soft power and is not compatible with the Government’s ambitions for ‘Global Britain’.

The chair of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee, Tom Tugendhat MP, and the chair of the British Council All-Party Parliamentary Group, John Baron MP, have written a letter to the Prime Minister calling on him to reconsider, also signed by many other Parliamentarians. As one signatory opted to sign the letter privately, the true number is 108, and the campaign has the support of the Labour and SNP front benches.

John Baron MP has secured an Urgent Question from the Speaker for tomorrow morning.

John said,

“These closures are not in the national interest, and will do real and lasting damage to our soft power. They are not compatible with ‘Global Britain’, nor with the Government’s ambitions in the Integrated Review, and for a comparatively and non-recurring small sum can be avoided.”

“This letter is a clear statement of resolve from Parliamentarians, and our campaign continues tomorrow with my article in the Times and our Urgent Question.”

Ends
Word Count: 286
Date: 7th June 2021

Notes to Editors:
• For more information, please see John’s earlier press release (‘John Baron MP condemns British Council country closures’).

• You may also wish to read John’s article in Conservative Home (https://bit.ly/2Tyxfjj) as well as the report in the Sunday Telegraph (https://bit.ly/3x2S7xL).