On July 5th, we entered a new political era. For the first time since 2010, the Conservative Party were not the largest within the House of Commons. We had a government-in-waiting and in celebration at the outcome, pledging “change” and an end to the politics of the past decade and a half. Ministerial appointments were swift, the tours began quickly, and changes and announcements were launched at breakneck speed. They were ready to fire on all cylinders, and those of us focused on the creative industries were expecting similar deliveries.
But if the past several days are anything to go on, the Arts & Theatre sector may be waiting even longer than we had been hoping. Within 24 hours, many of my hopes for the future were dashed, or at the very least postponed for the foreseeable future, with two key events shifting my beliefs on what may be set to come for Arts & Theatre, and not in the way I had hoped when the new Prime Minister proclaimed victory from the steps of 10 Downing Street. So what has happened, and why has this, in my opinion, casted dark doubts over our sector’s future?
The first sign of trouble comes from the recent episode of The Rest is Politics: Leading. Hosted by former Conservative MP Rory Stewart and former Director of Communications for Tony Blair, Alastair Campbell, the podcast explores all things politics in the U.K. and elsewhere, with their Leading series bringing in guests from across the political sphere to discuss their careers and activities. Their most recent guest, and the first from the Labour Cabinet since the election, was Lisa Nandy MP, the new Secretary of State for Culture, Media & Sport.
Hearing from the new Secretary of State was lovely in terms of connecting her to her career, her efforts both inside and outside of Parliament and some of her policy intentions in her new brief. But it wasn’t until near the very end that it hit me. Throughout the entire conversation, stretching from sport to media and her appointment to the General Election campaign, the ‘culture’ part of her brief barely got a word in. Whilst this was largely due to the questions asked ignoring this themselves, it wasn’t until the 59th minute of the 63-minute interview that theatre, the arts or protecting small venues was discussed, and even then was spoken of in terms of what wasn’t discussed.
Nandy did offer her reassurance that she could talk about theatre “[until] the cows come home” and promised to return in future to discuss these particular topics, but it’s the fact that it took until 94% of the interview was completed for the arts to even be raised is worrying. It’s clear that Nandy is passionate about her brief and can talk extensively about the issues faced particularly by sport and media institutions, but it’s clear that the creative industries are not as high on the new government’s to-do list as they should be. Whilst I fully understand there are very large issues facing the new administration in almost all corners, this interview with Lisa Nandy was a chance for Arts & Theatre to receive a platform it is never offered in political discussion, which was almost entirely missed for no conceivable reason.
Whilst a slight annoyance, this was something easy enough to overlook given the wide range of the Culture, Media & Sport brief…if it wasn’t for what followed. On the same day that I listened to this interview, the day after it was released, it was time for the State Opening of Parliament and the King’s Speech. This event marks the beginning of the new Parliamentary session and is when the monarch visits The House of Lords to announce his government’s agenda for the new Parliament, written and compiled by the government, laying out their priorities. And this King’s Speech was a big one, with almost 40 different legislative bills announced for the early days of the new government.
This included bringing train operators into public service [Passenger Railway Services (Public Ownership) Bill, Rail Reform Bill], setting up a new Border Security Command [Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill] and reforming the Mental Health Act [Mental Health Bill], among many others. It also included the Football Governance Bill, to “establish an independent football regulator to ensure greater sustainability in the game and strengthen protections for fans”, showing that the Department of Culture, Media & Sport has been included. And yet, in the 39 proposed bills, there was not a single one for the Arts & Theatre sector, with the words ‘art’, ‘theatre’, ‘creative’, ‘museum’ and ‘culture’ not mentioned a single time in His Majesty’s speech. For a new government, this is, in my opinion, particularly disappointing.
If we take a look back to the Labour Party manifesto, which we analysed during the General Election campaign, they promised several measures:
- Implement [their] creative industries sector plan as part of [their] Industrial Strategy, creating good jobs and accelerating growth in film, music, gaming, and other creative sectors
- Support children to study a creative or vocational subject until they are 16, and ensure accountability measures reflect this
- Improve access to cultural assets by requiring publicly funded national museums and galleries to increase the loans they make from their collections to communities across the country
- Introducing new consumer protections on ticket resales
The King’s Speech reveals that none of these measures will be brought before Parliament in the immediate future, despite the impacts some of these may have on our industry, which is crying out for help as a result of the pandemic and the Cost-of-Living crisis.
Finally, returning to our new Secretary of State for Culture, Media & Sport, one of the most memorable things that Lisa Nandy MP has pledged is that “the era of culture wars is over” in the days following the General Election. This quote was defining, and cut through much of the media chatter to be one of her boldest quotes that has ever been attributed to her. But even that solid declaration is already proving to be a falsehood. Many people have refuted this claim, particularly given comments made by Secretary of State for Health & Social Care Wes Streeting recently, where he has promised to indefinitely extend the ban on puberty blocking-medication.
This has caused an outpouring of condemnation from LGBTQ+ groups, as well as a range of Labour, Green, Liberal Democrat, Independent and other MPs including Zarah Sultana MP, Nadia Whittome MP and Siân Berry MP. Whether Nandy meant for her comment to be the final words in the so-called culture wars, they certainly have not been, with Streeting stoking those same culture wars just days after these comments. It is worth noting, however, that Nandy has recently said that Trans+ athletes should be allowed in women’s sports, which is an unexpected but hugely welcome development and may suggest that she could be willing to play her part in ending the culture wars. Ultimately, her actions will speak louder than anything she says, but this could be a sign that she may be willing to move for positive policies, but we will have to wait and see.
I am confident that Lisa Nandy has begun her new brief determined to make a difference, and it is early days into the new administration. But for a government that claims to be working swiftly to “turn the page”, the first days of the new administration has, for Arts & Theatre at least, felt like a massive red herring. There is plenty of time to act on these promises and include new provisions during the length of this Parliamentary term, but for the industries in desperate need of support, it is another delay from another government. Will things improve as we progress? I hope so, but my current indications suggest that we might be waiting much longer than we’d hope to.
