Meeting of the Parliament 25 October 2023
I am grateful to the Labour Party for bringing this important and timely debate to the chamber.
The playwright George Bernard Shaw once said:
“Without art, the crudeness of reality would make the world unbearable.”
On a daily basis, we come up against the crude reality of our time. When times are tough, as they are now, it is easy for Governments to lay the artistic and cultural sectors to one side. In uncertain times, such as those that we are living in, the public services that are crumbling around us often, rightly, take the focus of chambers such as this.
Arts will always play second fiddle to those other pressing concerns, but we dismiss the importance of the arts and cultural sectors at our peril. They have a unique and crucial part to play, as we have heard several times today, in enlightening us, unifying us and supporting our mental health in what are increasingly anxious and fractious times. It is also important to remember that the creative industry is estimated to be worth £4.5 billion to the Scottish economy. It keeps 80,000 of our fellow Scots in work. That is often overlooked.
We would also be remiss to overlook the positive impact that the sector has in attracting tourists to our shores. That is no wonder, given that the beauty of Scotland is advertised best in dramas such as BBC’s “Shetland”. Scotland has a proud cultural heritage and a growing film and television industry that punches well above its weight on the international stage. It is therefore baffling that the Scottish National Party-Green Government has treated the sector so flippantly and with such great disrespect.
Despite the fact that the sector was only just beginning to get back on its feet following the lockdown years, last December, the Government announced a £6.6 million cut to Creative Scotland’s budget, which was a cut of 10 per cent. That has been well rehearsed in the remarks already today. The very understandable uproar that followed that decision prompted the Government to reverse the cut in February this year, but we now have a U-turn on a U-turn, with the reinstating of the initial funding cut.
The First Minister’s latest announcement at the SNP conference was no more than a cynical move aimed at garnering good headlines. That may seem like no more than a joyless round of hokey cokey, but it has had profound consequences for Creative Scotland, which has been forced to use up its cash reserves to cover the shortfall. The chief executive of Creative Scotland, Iain Munro, described the situation as
“like trying to change the engines on an aeroplane while you are flying it.”—[Official Report, Constitution, Europe, External Affairs and Culture Committee, 28 September 2023; c 8.]
The offhand way in which the Scottish Government is treating the arts industry is reminiscent of the way in which it has disregarded the business community. The industry needs certainty in order to thrive, grow and safeguard precious jobs. However, on the Government’s watch, the Edinburgh international film festival has been stripped back—it almost ended—and the Edinburgh Filmhouse has closed, with the building sold and more than 100 jobs lost. Now, Screen Scotland is under pressure following the most recent cuts. The Government is guilty of cultural vandalism—nothing more, nothing less.
Large parts of Scotland are being left entirely behind when it comes to culture spending, which is largely geared towards our metropolitan areas. Rural and island communities are not getting their fair share of funding. One example that has been mentioned before relates to Screen Machine, Scotland’s only mobile cinema, which serves the Highlands and Islands. It has been running for 25 years, but it could be set to end next year if it fails to get the funding that it needs for a new custom vehicle. The service currently relies on a French leased truck, but that lease expires in April. The group that runs the service estimates that a brand-new Screen Machine will cost £1.4 million, and it has asked the Scottish Government for 50 per cent of that. I think that we can all agree that such initiatives deserve our support, which is why the Liberal Democrats will support the Labour motion.
17:01