British Council could disappear within a decade, says chief executive

Visitors at an exhibition at the British Council in India. Photograph: Pacific Press Media Production Corp./Alamy

The British Council could “disappear” within a decade, harming the UK’s global status and leaving an international vacuum to be filled by Russia and China, unless the government acts to save it, according to the council’s leader.

Scott McDonald, the British Council’s chief executive, said he was looking at £250m in budget cuts, losing hundreds of staff and axing the council’s presence in up to 40 countries.