The new Labour Government has published its first budget since winning the General Election in July. As expected, they have been cautious with spending, citing the extent of the economic black hole they inherited from the previous administration. So what does this budget mean for the grassroots music community?

Prior to the election being called, Sir Keir Starmer had been posting on Linked In, promising that a Labour Government would restore arts funding after 14 years of Tory cuts and would work with our Creative Industries to make them world-leading again. The timing of Sunak’s decision to go to the country took Labour by surprise and, faced with being the overwhelming favourites to win, they quickly reined in the bolder talk, realising that any big mistakes could cost them an election that, on paper at least, was in the bag.

Now, after four months in power and having already made their excuses in advance about the mess they were left to sort out, the message remains less bold. All the same, the tone of the budgetary statement is triumphalist. This is a budget that is all about rebuilding the nation, fixing broken services and wanting a world class infrastructure. In these respects, it is refreshing to see proper pay rises for the public sector after a decade and a half of pay freezes and there are positive signs in relation to the NHS, Education, Housing and Rail.

What then of new money for the arts? Here the news is not so good. The annual settlement for the Department of Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS) equates to a real terms increase of 2.6%. The statement says they will prioritise the Creative Industries by continuing to fund existing programmes like Creative Growth and The UK Games Fund. They will also expand the Creative Careers Programme which raises awareness of career routes and tackles skills gaps in the creative sectors. There is also a raise in Grant-In-Aid for museums and galleries. The word ‘grassroots’ appears once in this section but the reference is about ‘… investing in multi-use facilities across the UK and scaling up so DCMS can deliver on plans for the UK and Ireland to host the 2028 UEFA European Football Championship’. There is also some new money for paralympians. Sadly though, no mention of any new money to redress the vicious cuts, opposed by Labour at the time (2022), in money for the Arts Council of England. There is an increase in money for the devolved governments in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland so it remains to be seen whether any of that additional revenue will find its way to the Arts Councils of Wales or Northern Ireland or to Creative Scotland.

There may be some encouragement to be taken from a 10.2% increase in funding for Local Government, reversing a long-time trend of routine cuts. It will include funds to increase social care; ease local business rates and tackle homelessness. There is no mention of enabling local authorities to play a more proactive part in funding and supporting local arts and culture projects and initiatives though. So whether any of the additional monies will be used for such purposes will probably depend upon two factors – how much money each Council has left after meeting key commitments and the make-up of the ruling body on each. It is an unfortunate fact that, in the poorest areas where local government could potentially be allowed to fund more creative entrepreneurship, the Councils also face the biggest pressures in having to meet costs directly impacted by higher ratios of residents on benefits or low incomes.

Otherwise, there is really nothing in this budget that tangibly helps the grassroots music community to mitigate the pressure we have faced for so long and especially since 2022. The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rachel Reeves, is no fool so she must appreciate the potential for job creation, economic growth and stimulation of associated sectors such as the night-time economy; all of which would benefit from more funding being directed to the types of projects the Arts Councils support (i.e. those involving significant numbers of people, offering opportunities, connecting communities and collaborating across disciplines etc.). In the past month, two leading economists have publicly called on the government to recognise the wider economic and societal well-being benefits from investing heavily in the arts.

Of course, this is only Year 1 of a 5-year term in office. We have to cling to the hope that Labour will prioritise addressing these issues in the next budgetary cycle. In the meantime, the independent music sector will have to brace itself for another year of economic struggle, venue closures and rejected applications for grants. We need to keep up the pressure on MPs and Cabinet Ministers. More letters and lobbying must duly be among our priorities for 2025.

This article will appear in Edition 98 of Trust The Doc to be published on 30th November 2024.