General Election 2019: Arts and culture in the party manifestos
As the UK heads to the polls on Thursday 12 December, the conversation is somewhat (understandably) dominated by Brexit, the NHS, climate, and the economy. There will likely be a number of important issues that inform your voting decision in this general election, and as artists or cultural professionals, you may be keen to know what the parties’ plans are for the arts and cultural industries.
Below you can find information from the manifestos of the main parties in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, that relates to arts and culture. To find this information, we have used search and find tools, with the search terms: arts; culture; creativity; music; theatre; media and galleries, as well as skim-reading each manifesto to ensure relevant information is captured. Any matching information has been copied and pasted below, and you can find the source URL alongside the text should you wish you read more.
We have also provided a summary of each party’s ‘Top Priorities’, along with the source UR, which is the BBC’s manifesto comparison tool.
As a charity, UKYA remains neutral in political discussions. The information provided below is intended to be unbiased, therefore no commentary or opinion is provided, and the parties appear alphabetically. You may notice that for some parties there is more information than others - this is purely due to the available information from the manifestos. We have made every effort to include all mentions of the arts and culture from the manifestos, however if you know of any missed information, please get in touch.
The Brexit Party
From their ‘Contract with the people’ https://www.thebrexitparty.org/contract/
Phase out the BBC licence fee.
Top Priorities
Source - BBC
Leave all institutions of the EU and restore the primacy of UK law
Negotiate a free trade agreement with the EU, similar to the deals the bloc has with Canada and Japan, with a new deadline of 1 July 2020
Leave the EU and move to World Trade Organisation trading rules if a free trade agreement cannot be struck
£200bn spending programme on infrastructure, wi-fi and services for young people
The Conservative and Unionist Party (The Conservatives)
From their Manifesto: https://vote.conservatives.com/our-plan
Arts & Culture
We will invest in arts, music and sport. Over the last nine years we have made real improvements in maths, English and science, and given more children access to a rich academic curriculum. We retain our commitment to the core subjects and also want young people to learn creative skills and widen their horizons, so we will offer an ‘arts premium’ to secondary schools to fund enriching activities for all pupils. And to ensure children are getting an active start to life, we will invest in primary school PE teaching and ensure that it is being properly delivered. (page 13)
The UK is at its best when it allies its extraordinary design and artistic abilities with science and technology. The Festival of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in 2022 – a national celebration which coincides with the Birmingham Commonwealth Games – will encourage our leading arts and cultural organisations, universities, research institutes and businesses to come together to inspire the next generation in British innovation and creativity. (page 40)
Alongside investing in science, we will maintain our support for the arts and culture, taking pride in the worldbeating strengths of the UK’s creative industries and its unparalleled cultural heritage. In addition to our new support for arts in schools, business rates relief for music venues and cinemas, and the largest cultural capital programme in a century – £250 million to support local libraries and museums – we will maintain support for creative sector tax reliefs and free entry to the UK’s national museums. (page 42)
Top priorities
Source - BBC
Bring back the Withdrawal Agreement Bill to Parliament before Christmas to achieve Brexit by the end of January
£20.5bn additional funding for the NHS in England by 2023-24, 50 million more GP appointments and 50,000 more nurses
20,000 more police officers over the next three years in England and Wales
No rises in income tax, National Insurance contributions or VAT
Introduce an Australian-style points-based immigration system, which treats everyone equally regardless of where they come from
The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP)
Northern Ireland voters only
From their Manifesto: https://www.mydup.com/
In terms of cultural wealth and linkages the DUP supports: • The establishment of an organisation to promote and encourage interaction, dialogue, and practical collaboration around our British identity and developing deeper relationships between all parts of the UK, be they cultural, business, sporting or any other sphere. We envisage a new body or structure that would have a wealth of opportunities for research, education, advocacy, media, conferences and exhibitions. Cultural connections could be a key part of its work. • National Access to our National Cultural Wealth - National cultural institutions have become less London centric but they remain too England centric. Access to our national cultural wealth is not enjoyed equally, and what practical barriers do exist do not justify this. The DUP supports a new National Cultural Wealth Plan to increase touring exhibitions, display artefacts in other national museums and create shared exhibition space across the UK for the likes of the Imperial War Museum, V&A or Tate Gallery to place long and short-term exhibitions. (page 25)
The new and older generations have seen a transformation in how they access and watch their film, television and music entertainmentincluding Netflix, Amazon, Now TV, Spotify, AppleTV etc. Each person gets to decide which services they want and what they are willing to pay- free to choose what they spend their money on. This transformation has made the BBC licence fee, a regressive tax on the poorest, an anachronism. The licence fee should be abolished. People should be free to choose how they spend this extra £154.50 a year on whatever they want. The BBC boasts of the quality of what it produces. However, this is not an argument against change, but for it. This confidence in its product is surely what can make it flourish as a successful subscription-based service and grow beyond the UK as a high-quality global brand. Freedom for licence fee payers will also mean freedom for the BBC to grow to something even bigger and better, and create fairer competition for media outlets nationally and locally. (page 10)
Top priorities
Source - BBC
Defend the Union and oppose a border poll
Respect the result of the EU referendum and support a Brexit where Great Britain and Northern Ireland leave together
Oppose the backstop and any trade barriers between Great Britain and Northern Ireland
More and better jobs through extra powers and city deals for all of Northern Ireland
The Green Party of England and Wales
From their Manifesto: https://campaigns.greenparty.org.uk/manifesto/
The Green Party’s plan to empower local government will: > Increase central government funding to councils by £10 billion a year. This funding, combined with the local council revenue raising, will enable local government to improve the frontline services they provide and which local people need and want. We will support councils to also use this funding to nurture arts and culture in their areas, keeping local museums, theatres, libraries and art galleries open and thriving. (page 41)
Restore arts and music education in all state schools, to enable children to develop their creative potential. (page 56)
Top Priorities
Source - BBC
£100bn a year for a decade to tackle climate change - mainly paid for by borrowing
Net-zero carbon emissions in the UK by 2030
Pursue a "green new deal" including a "structural transformation" of the way the economy works
Create more than a million new jobs through green investment
Introduce a People's Vote Bill to implement another referendum on Brexit - will campaign to Remain
The Labour Party
From their ‘Charter for the Arts’ https://labour.org.uk/manifesto/
At the heart of Labour’s radical offer to this country is our fundamental belief that everybody, from all walks of life and all backgrounds, should be able to lead rich and fulfilling lives. If we are to achieve that vision in Government, central to our programme will be an unwavering commitment to support and properly fund the arts. The Government I lead will be proud to ensure that every child in every corner of the country has the opportunity to learn an instrument, engage with the arts and develop their creativity. In the 1960s, the pioneering Arts Minister Jennie Lee oversaw Britain’s first national cultural strategy of its kind. A strategy that pledged: “In any civilised community the arts and associated amenities, serious or comic, light or demanding, must occupy a central place. Their enjoyment should not be regarded as remote from everyday life.”
A Labour government elected in 2019 will proudly embrace Jennie Lee’s legacy to renew the cause of arts for all. We will introduce a renewed Culture White Paper, which recognises the rich heritage of Britain’s contribution to human culture, from William Shakespeare to Ben Okri, and from Mary Quant to Tim Berners-Lee. We will establish at the heart of government a co-ordinating committee for arts and culture working across government departments to drive a national cultural renewal. We will acknowledge the economic importance of our world-leading creative industries and we will look to the future to include modern developments like the digital arts and creative media industries. We will seize opportunities for artists and performers by global connectivity and access to content through the internet. We will facilitate their continuing growth because we also understand the need for lifelong education. We will support and ensure grassroots, nationwide participation in the arts in order to continuously develop a skilled and valued pool of performers, content creators and artistic thinkers. Our White Paper for the Modern Arts will demonstrate that we understand not only the bottom line of artistic endeavours but the benefits of arts for arts sake, too. The arts are a common inheritance, representing an essential part of the ever-changing culture which binds us all together in common purpose. (page 3)
A Labour government will maintain free access to national museums and galleries. Our national collections have attracted many more visitors every year since Labour introduced our free admissions policy nearly two decades ago. More people from all walks of life have been able to share in the very best of Britain’s cultural and artistic heritage. A Labour government will invest £1 billion to transform libraries, museums and galleries across the country Seven hundred of our Libraries have been forced to close since 2010 and cultural institutions outside the capital are being particularly badly neglected. The vast majority of public and private investment in museums goes to London while other parts of the country are losing their vital cultural assets. Our Cultural Capital Fund will ensure that the nourishing effects of our cultural heritage are shared nationwide, with our understanding that warm words of encouragement about unlocking potential and increasing access need to be backed up with cold hard cash investments.
Giving all artists a good start in life
A Labour government will invest £160 million in an arts pupil premium for primary schools. Our arts pupil premium will embed creative education in the school curriculum and introduce children to the enjoyment of arts from a very early age. The investment will provide a strong foundation for a creative talent pipeline that will support and sustain our growing, creative industries. As automation changes the world of work, creative jobs will become even more important to our economy. We will make sure that our children have the skills they need to thrive. A Labour government will invest £1 billion in Youth Services We are all only young once but young people today have too often been left with nowhere to go, nothing to do and no one to talk to. We will guarantee a right of access to local youth services, where formal education can be supplemented by guidance and mentoring with associated, supervised and organised recreational activities, including performance, visits and artistic or cultural learning. (page 7)
A Fair Share Of Funds
A Labour government will ensure lottery grants are shared out fairly between all our communities Lottery grants are an important lifeline for community arts and heritage projects. We will introduce transparency of sales data, so that grants to good causes are distributed more fairly. More grants should be awarded to the deprived communities which raise money in the first place and they should be given a stronger say in how grants are spent locally. A Labour government will end the cuts to the Arts Council We will fund the Arts Council properly. We will review its grant criteria to ensure a full local, regional and national balance in its work. We will also consider the stability of arts funding through more multi-annual funding awards and long term targeting of under-served communities A Labour government will establish a Town of Culture competition The Cities of Culture award has brought enormous benefits to cities like Liverpool and Hull. Celebrating the contributions to our culture of smaller towns we will bring those benefits to towns like Hastings and Llantrisant, Galashiels and Northampton. (page 8)
Creative Jobs
Our creative and performing industries offer artists and performers opportunities to thrive but they can also be places of insecure self-employment, inwork poverty and the exploitative practises of bad bosses. Labour believes that creative and artistic work should provide a decent life for all. A Labour government will transform lives through the biggest extension of workers’ rights in history. We will repeal restrictive trade union laws, set a real living wage, prohibit zero-hour contracts and seek to introduce protections for the self-employed, including collective income protection insurance schemes and better access to mortgages and pension schemes. We will extend the right to shared parental leave and pay to freelancers. We will also review the copyright framework to ensure artists and content creators receive fair dues in the digital age.
A Labour government will promote diversity in the creative industries. Everyone deserves the opportunity to see themselves represented on-screen and on-stage and in the games we play, the stories we tell and the songs we sing. We will work with trade unions to ensure diversity initiatives in creative workplaces and with industry to ensure that our world leading creative tax reliefs encourage and improve diversity. Local cultural venues nurture diverse talent from every part of our country, but too many have shut down during the last decade of austerity.
We will help communities protect their local music and cultural venues from closure. A Labour Government will invest £1 billion to achieve parity for mental health services Arts and Music therapies play an important role in recovering mental health and well-being. Our huge investments to transform mental health services offers opportunities for therapists as well as for the young people who will be able to reach them through a counsellor in every secondary school. (page 9)
Digital Creativity
The digital revolution is here. Our digital creative industries are world leaders, in a world transformed by the opportunities of digital technology and global connectivity. From music streaming and internet blogging to online game design and the fine arts, the digital revolution has changed our creative cultures forever. Digital connectivity is the foundation of our future economy and the canvas of our future creativity, but we will all need access to world-class digital infrastructure in order to harness the opportunities which abound. Everyone should be able to access those opportunities. A Labour government will ensure they can. A Labour government will deliver free full-fibre broadband to all by 2030 We will bring the broadband-relevant parts of BT into public ownership and roll out the remaining 90-92% of the full-fibre network. We will introduce a Charter for Digital Rights alongside new regulation to make the internet a safer, more welcoming space for all and place where creativity can thrive. (page 10)
Top Priorities
Source - BBC
£400bn national transformation fund, including £250bn for energy, transport and the environment, and £150bn for schools, hospitals and housing
£75bn for 100,000 new council homes a year by 2024 and 50,000 affordable homes a year through Housing Associations
Free full fibre broadband for every home and business in the UK by 2030
£10-an-hour minimum wage for all workers
Hold another referendum on Brexit
The Liberal Democrats
From ‘Jo’s Plan for the Future’ https://www.libdems.org.uk/plan
Arts, media and sports are essential for personal fulfilment and quality of life – they enlarge people’s experience and are part of what turns a group of people into a community. Funding for these organisations is put at risk with Brexit. Liberal Democrats will ensure that we continue to invest in our cultural capital.
We will:
Maintain free access to national museums and galleries.
Protect the independence of the BBC and set up a BBC Licence Fee Commission, maintain Channel 4 in public ownership and protect the funding and editorial independence of Welsh language broadcasters.
Protect sports and arts funding via the National Lottery.
Examine the available funding and planning rules for live music venues and the grassroots music sector, protecting venues from further closures. (page 37)
Protect the availability of arts and creative subjects in the curriculum and act to remove barriers to pupils studying these subjects, including by abolishing the English Baccalaureate as a performance measure. • Teach the core skills required for children to flourish in the modern world, including critical thinking, verbal reasoning and creativity. (page 33)
Top Priorities
Source - BBC
Stop Brexit, which the party argues will release money to be spent on public services over the next five years
£20bn a year for five years to tackle climate change
1p rise in income tax to invest in health and social care, allowing the NHS budget to be increased by £26bn a year by 2023-24
Recruit 20,000 more teachers and increase schools funding by £10.6bn a year by 2024/25
£130bn investment in infrastructure
Plaid Cymru
for voters in Wales only
From their Manifesto: https://www.partyof.wales/full_manifesto
Culture
Plaid Cymru will demand the devolution of broadcasting to the Senedd so that we can develop a broadcasting sector made by the people of Wales, for the people of Wales, and accountable to the people of Wales. (page 56)
Plaid Cymru will place art, culture and language together with sport – all vitally important parts of our social tradition and way of life – at the heart of all our policies, from local government finance, through to health and education and our European policies. Creativity, innovation and a sense of place will be critical to the success of any economy in the 21st century and also carry a huge social dividend in wellbeing and community cohesion. We will maintain free entry to museums, create a National Digital Library for Wales, and work with National Museums Wales to create a dedicated National Gallery for Contemporary Art. We recognise that Wales has fewer bank holidays than almost any other nation in the EU. Plaid Cymru will make 1st March a national St David’s Day bank holiday in Wales. Plaid Cymru is seeking the devolution of broadcasting so that we can create a levelplaying field with every other UK nation and give Wales the power to decide its own media and broadcasting policy. In government, we will promote a Welsh media that represents the people of Wales and what matters to them. (page 74)
Top Priorities
Source - BBC
Second referendum on Brexit
Devote an extra 1% of GDP to green investment over 10 years, giving Wales a share worth £15bn
£20bn for a Welsh "green jobs revolution", investing in renewable energy, transport infrastructure and digital services
Lift children out of poverty via new payments for children in low-income families, and a "once in a generation" £300m boost for education
The Scottish Green Party
for voters in Scotland only
From their ‘2019 Westminster Manifesto’ https://greens.scot/
No specific mention of arts, culture, music, theatre, galleries.
Top Priorities
Source - BBC
Tackle the "climate emergency"
Invest in the country through a "Green New Deal"
Stop Brexit
Support a second referendum on Scottish independence
The Scottish Nationalist Party (SNP)
for voters in Scotland only
From their Manifesto: https://www.snp.org/general-election-2019/
Culture and creativity The Creative Industries contribute more than £7 billion to the Scottish economy each year and support more than 80,000 jobs. (page 9)
Broadcasting and Creative Industries Creative industries are of huge importance to Scotland socially, culturally and economically, with the total contribution to the economy (GVA) having grown by 62% between 2008 and 2017. We continue to support tax incentives for creative industries, including for film and television, and for more work to increase equality, inclusion and diversity across the sector. We will press for responsibility for broadcasting in Scotland to be devolved to the Scottish Parliament and for greater authority and funding to be moved from the BBC network to BBC Scotland. In the meantime, we welcome the creation of a new BBC Scotland TV channel and its associated investment, and we will continue to push for a fairer share of the TV licence fee raised in Scotland being spent in Scotland.
… If Brexit happens we will argue for streamlined visa schemes for artists and performers which ensures people from across the world can come to Scotland to perform, work and collaborate, and Scotland’s culture sector and creative industries can continue to benefit from international partnerships and shared experiences. (page 25 - 26)
Top Priorities
Source - BBC
Referendum on Scottish independence in 2020
Keep Scotland in the EU, single market and customs union – options include a referendum with Remain on the ballot paper if needed
Greater powers for the Scottish Parliament
End austerity
Introduce an NHS Protection Bill to block UK governments from using the NHS in trade talks
SDLP (Social Democratic and Labour Party)
voters in Northern Ireland only
Manifesto not yet available https://www.sdlp.ie/
Top priorities
Source - BBC
Secure special status for NI within the EU
Restore power sharing and get Stormont working again
Oppose cuts to benefits, tax credits and pensions
Implement legislation to give official status to the Irish language
Pursue justice, truth and accountability for victims of NI's Troubles
Sinn Féin
voters in Northern Ireland only
Manifesto not yet available. https://www.sinnfein.ie/
Top priorities
Source - BBC
Secure a date for a referendum on a united Ireland
Oppose Brexit
Achieve a zero-carbon society
Sinn Féin MPs are elected on an abstentionist mandate and do not take their seats in parliament.
The Ulster Unionist Party
voters in Northern Ireland only
Manifesto not yet available https://uup.org/
Top priorities
Source - BBC
Strengthen NI’s place in the UK and ensure the best Brexit deal possible is secured
Address the legacy of the past in a proportionate manner, whilst also meeting the immediate needs of victims and survivors
Fix Stormont and restore public confidence in the local institutions
Reform of the health service in NI, merging the five existing trusts and put in place an independent chief executive
Create a world-class education system