James Sunderland welcomes DFID and FCO merger and seeks confirmation that it will come with a more comprehensive strategy combining all the threads of soft power.

James Sunderland (Bracknell) (Con)

I welcome the merger for all the benefits of co-ordination and synergy that it promises. Could the Foreign Secretary please confirm that it will also come with a more comprehensive strategy for combining all the multiple threads of soft and hard power?

Dominic Raab (The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs and First Secretary of State)

We have of course taken this merger decision now because we can see that we need to be as effective as we possibly can be during this coronavirus challenge. Equally, it will help to galvanise the integrated view that will bring into play all the wider security factors that my hon. Friend mentioned.

Hansard