Hansard

I am happy to say that we are. Liberal Democrats are fundamentally committed to rebuilding our fractured relationship with Europe, whether it be through Erasmus+ or otherwise. It was a Welsh Liberal Democrat who was instrumental in bringing about Wales’s unique scheme, and I hope that Scotland will follow suit in that respect. We are committed to rejoining Creative Europe.

Although we will support the Government’s motion today, it belies the steady erosion of culture on its watch. There is nothing to disagree with in the motion, but it misses vital facts about what has happened to culture under Angus Robertson. Culture matters, as do the arts. In the words of George Bernard Shaw:

“Without art, the crudeness of reality would make the world unbearable.”

It is all too easy to lay the arts and culture sector to one side. I can understand why that happens, for good reason. Every day, we see our public services crumbling. They, rightly, command the parliamentary time that is available to debate matters, but it is important that we do not lose sight of the sector. We disregard culture and the arts at our peril. In an increasingly divided world, they are among the few things that have the power to bring us together, at least from time to time. In an increasingly frightening and uncertain time, art comforts, enlightens and engages us. We can lessen our anxiety and support our mental health through its prosecution.

Culture is also the very backbone of civilisation, which is one reason why, in 1930s Germany, the Nazis despised it and sought to bend it to suit their own twisted ideology. Indeed, our culture sector can help us to examine the shadows of our own past—for example, as the motion states, by

“addressing Scotland’s role in colonialism and slavery”.

Therefore, I repeat that we dismiss its importance at our peril.

Let us also remember the creative industry, of which we have heard something already. It is estimated to be worth £4.5 billion to the Scottish economy. It keeps 80,000 people—our fellow Scots and our constituents—in jobs, and it attracts tourism. It is no wonder that the beauty of Scotland is advertised in the many films and television dramas that are shot here. We have a growing film and TV industry that punches well above its weight. It is baffling, then, that the SNP-Green Government has treated the sector with such disregard in the past. At the SNP conference last October, Humza Yousaf pledged £100 million of additional funding to the sector, but that came after the Government had cut £6.6 million from Creative Scotland’s budget in the previous December, before reinstating that budget in February 2023 and cutting it again last September.

The Government is spinning on the spot. Its approach might 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 that shortfall. At the time, 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 is reminiscent of the way in which it has disregarded the business community’s need for certainty and clarity in order to thrive, flourish and safeguard jobs.

On the Scottish Government’s watch, our cultural sector has been threatened like never before. The Edinburgh international film festival has been pared back almost to nothing. Edinburgh’s historic Filmhouse cinema is forced to rely on donations, and it has still not reopened its doors. Screen Machine has been saved from the brink, but there is still uncertainty about its future. The Loch Lomond Highland games have been cancelled after the council was forced to withdraw funding. As we have heard several times, Glasgow’s Aye Write festival has been cancelled due to lack of funding, and there have been dire warnings about the Edinburgh festival fringe—that jewel in the crown of our nation’s cultural economy. Last week, Edinburgh’s iconic Jazz Bar announced that, because of financial pressures, it was closing its doors for good. That was a shock, but it was not unexpected, and it speaks to the symptomatic erosion of our hospitality sector, which has suffered since the pandemic. It has faced a perfect storm of increasing fuel costs, wage bills and rent—yet the Scottish Government has still not stepped in to help.

By slashing the culture budget, cutting money from local government and failing to support businesses with the cost of living, SNP and Green ministers are unleashing a rising tide of pressure on our culture and hospitality sectors. Creative Scotland is under such financial strain that it says that it can support only around 30 per cent of applications to its fund. The Government is guilty of cultural vandalism.

I want the Scottish Government to invest in the future to preserve Scotland’s proud music, artistic and literary history, working with the UK Government to ease the strains on businesses that are struggling to stay afloat. Members may rest assured that, should the Government fail to hit the right note, Liberal Democrats are waiting to save the day. We want to have a thriving, world-leading creative sector, supported by a properly funded Creative Scotland. We want local authority budgets to be protected and enhanced to ensure that the benefits of the arts and culture are available to everyone and to every generation that comes after us. The Government has a role to play in nourishing those roots, and it is time that it played it better.