British Council is a strategic asset in post-Brexit era | Letter

The hollowing out of the British Council across Europe would reduce the UK’s soft power and global standing. The British Council has long supported English teaching and cultural and scientific exchange, building goodwill that advertising cannot replicate. Proposed sales or downsizing of established teaching centres in Madrid, Milan, and Naples would cause major losses of skilled staff and dedicated facilities. Replacing city-centre buildings acquired when property was affordable would be impossible at comparable cost. Past closures of libraries in Paris, Rome, Athens, and Lisbon have already diminished Britain’s cultural footprint. After Brexit, loss of access to EU programmes and pandemic-related financial shocks have contributed to closures, redundancies, and reduced activity across Europe. Stable funding and a clear post-Brexit foreign policy role are needed.

"For decades, it has been one of Britain's most effective instruments of soft power, teaching English, supporting cultural and scientific exchange, and building longterm goodwill that no advertising campaign could buy. The proposed sale or downsizing of longestablished teaching centres with the huge loss of dedicated skilled staff in Madrid, Milan and Naples would be an irreparable loss. These buildings were acquired when citycentre property was affordable; replacing them would be impossible at anything like the same cost."

"We have already seen the disappearance of the council's excellent libraries in Paris, Rome, Athens and Lisbon collections built up over many decades and once central to Britain's cultural presence in Europe. Since Brexit, the council has lost access to EU programmes that previously supported a significant part of its European work. Combined with the financial shock of the pandemic, this has led to closures, redundancies and a retreat from a continent where the UK once had a strong cultural footprint."

"This is happening precisely when Britain needs more international engagement, not less. The British Council is not a luxury. It is a strategic asset and it deserves stable funding and a clear role in Britain's postBrexit foreign policy."

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