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Lord Collins of Highbury (Lab)

Speaking in the House of Lords on 15 July 2025

Debate

United Kingdom: Soft Power

Contribution

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.

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