Bosnia and Herzegovina

Lord Bishop of St Albans Excerpts

Thursday 3rd April 2025 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Chapman of Darlington (Lab)]

Since Brexit we have tried to work more and more closely with our EU partners, particularly on defence and security, for the reasons the noble Baroness has outlined. We are working closely to determine quite what form that takes. I am not in a position to say exactly what that will be, but we are in the business of resetting our deeply damaged relationship with the European Union. No one can be in any doubt, given the nature of the conversations that we have been having on this issue and on Ukraine, about our closeness and our collective determination that we must work more closely together in the future.

[The Lord Bishop of St Albans]

My Lords, we are living in a very vulnerable time when false narratives are being spread and some are not being challenged. I understand that Voice of America is not broadcasting in the way it was. Meanwhile, Russia is spreading false information and using its allies. This is at a time when there is a huge economic readjustment across the whole world and people are not looking so much to the West. What are His Majesty’s Government doing to ensure that the BBC World Service is making sure that a positive but accurate historical narrative is being given so that other narratives do not take hold?

[Baroness Chapman of Darlington (Lab)]

That is a very important question in many contexts around the world, but specifically this one. I was pleased that we were able to protect and enhance the funding that we provide for the World Service recently. As has been said, it is a vital tool for connecting with communities in very difficult circumstances and countering some of the misinformation and disinformation and the hybrid warfare that takes place in contexts such as these. We will continue to work closely with the World Service. It is about not just providing information today but making sure we have the longer-term narrative and accurate information to look back, to know what has happened and to tell the story properly as the historical record.