Last week’s General Election resulted in 55% of the former Parliament’s MPs with Arts & Theatre experience not return for the new session. Through a mix of members stepping down and failing in their bid for re-election, 49 of the 91 MPs who held specific roles for the creative arts during their careers in the House of Commons will not be sitting again in the new Parliament, which first convenes tomorrow. New members will be making up over 50% (335 members) of the entire House.
The biggest losses, as was reflected throughout the country, was for the Conservative Party. They were responsible for 40 of the 49 losses, with 15 members standing down before the election and 25 failing to be returned by their constituents. This included all but one of their sitting members on both the Speaker’s Advisory Committee on Works of Art (the survivor being Caroline Nokes), and the Culture, Media & Sport Committee (with only Chair Caroline Dineage returning).
But it wasn’t only the Conservatives who lost key arts figures. Both the Conservative and Labour parties lost their (Shadow) Secretary of State for Culture, Media & Sport. Lucy Frazer from the government lost Ely & East Cambridgeshire to the Liberal Democrats, and Labour’s Thangam Debbonaire was beaten in Bristol Central by Green Party Co-Leader Carla Denyer, which saw her replaced in Keir Starmer’s new Cabinet by Lisa Nandy. The Scottish National Party (SNP) also lost both their current and a former Culture Spokesperson in the election, and Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) lost their sitting Culture Spokesperson.
So where do these results leave Arts & Theatre representation? Well, 46.2% of the members with previous Arts & Theatre experience have returned to the House of Commons. We are yet to see who all of Starmer’s ministerial appointments will be, or who will be sitting on the new Culture, Media & Sport, and Speaker’s Advisory Committees, but there are definitely those with previous experience who could be appointed.
However, the results of the election are worse for Arts & Theatre than had been expected. In the weeks leading up to the election, it was expected that just over 50% of those with creative arts experience would be returned. Whilst this translates into only a few extra MPs who lost their seats, it did include some of those with the most experience, most notably Lucy Frazer, who was expected to retain her seat. It also sees Lisa Nandy, who has yet to hold a role in the Department of Culture, Media & Sport, taking on the mantle of the first Labour Culture Secretary in government since 2010.
There are still over 40 MPs who find themselves returning to the House of Commons who have Arts & Theatre experience, so the creative industries still have some expertise in Parliament to help advocate for our industries. But with this number heavily reduced from the 91 who were there just seven weeks ago, Arts & Theatre have taken a substantial hit.
The 2024 U.K. General Election was held on July 4th. The House of Commons begins sitting on July 9th
