House of Commons
Sir Nicholas Soames (Mid Sussex) (Con)
12. What steps he is taking to co-ordinate the use of soft power in British foreign policy. [908705]
The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (Mr Jeremy Hunt)
According to the Portland Soft Power 30 index, the UK is the world’s leading international soft power country. Post Brexit, this will be a vital asset for us to continue to exploit.
Sir Nicholas Soames
I thank my right hon. Friend for that important answer, but does he agree that, like so many things that we do well in this country, we tend to take that for granted? Will he therefore assure this House that he will pay greater attention to the co-ordination of soft power across all Departments?
Mr Hunt
I thank my right hon. Friend for making that very important point. I can reassure him that I have presented to Cabinet on the subject of soft power and written to every head of mission across the world to underline its importance and to ask what they are doing about it. I am also in charge of a cross-Government taskforce aimed at making sure we do everything we can in this area.
