Chancellor Rachel Reeves has cut the budget allocated to the Department of Culture, Media & Sport by 2.5% in her first Budget statement, the first by a Labour government since 2010 and the first ever by a female Chancellor.
Rising in the House of Commons for a monumental speech which took over an hour to deliver, Reeves emphasised that this “was not the sort of Budget [she] would want to repeat”, with over £40 billion of tax rises, the most being attributed to businesses, as well as administrative cuts to all government departments, and new borrowing targets.
Speaking on Wednesday, Reeves laid out “the Budget that is needed to wipe the slate clean and to put our public finances on a firm trajectory”, something which may be hard to swallow for some.
Whilst some departments, including the Departments of Health & Social Care, Defence, and Housing, Communities & Local Government, are set to enjoy real-terms increases to their budgets, other areas, such the Home Office, Environment, Food & Rural Affairs, and Culture, Media & Sport are all due to face real-terms depreciations in their Budget allocation.
However, there were some positive announcements for the cultural sectors, including “a £3m investment to expand the Creative Careers Programme and £300m for higher education”, as well as plans to “raise grant-in-aid for the national museums and galleries”. This is said to be to “help support their long-term sustainability”.
But despite this, reaction from cultural leaders has been one of understanding, but bitter disappointment. Society of London Theatre (SOLT) & UK Theatre co-CEO Claire Walker responded to Reeves’ statement, saying “Productions and venues set budgets, sometimes years in advance, and raise investment or apply for funds to support these projected costs”.
“We recognise that the Chancellor and the new government have had to make difficult choices in their first Budget and had to balance a range of competing and urgent demands. However, with 40% of venues risking closure over the next five years without significant capital investment, there is a critical need in our sector which must be addressed”.
This is a problem acutely felt in our own communities, with the Montgomery Theatre having just reopened after over a year of closure for capital redevelopment, the Abbeydale Picture House named on the annual ‘Theatres at Risk’ register, and the university’s very own Drama Studio seemingly under threat.
However, General Secretary of the Equity union Paul W Fleming has noted the “change of tone on industrial strategy for the performing arts and entertainment industries”, yet took the opportunity to urge the new government to go further.
“Equity will keep pressing Labour to ensure a positive impact for artists, especially those in precarious work paying freelance tax”.
The first Labour Budget in over a decade, and the first ever delivered by a female Chancellor, will go down in history as a great moment, both for British politics and for feminism. But for the cultural industries, Reeves’ words appear to have fallen short of hopes.
Whilst we wait to see the fallout and impact of the Chancellor’s measures, many will be fearing for cultural funding in their areas, as the department prepares to contract its spending.
The full Budget statement can be found here
