Meeting of the Parliament 14 January 2025
I was not going to mention Brexit in this speech, but Ms Thomson has raised it, and there are issues relating to Brexit that the Constitution, Europe, External Affairs and Culture Committee is considering in trying to improve the Brexit deal that we have—ensuring that there are more visas for touring artists, for example.
I return to the budget. Anne Lyden, who is the director general of National Galleries of Scotland, warned Parliament last week that
“it is very welcome that additional funding is coming to culture, but it is quite simply too little, too late. That is why we still find ourselves in a state of precarity.”
We often hear that the crisis facing the sector is a result of the pandemic. Ms Lyden was also right when she said:
“I do not think that we are still recovering from Covid; we are recovering from before Covid. Year on year, adequate funding has not been coming in.”—[Official Report, Constitution, Europe, External Affairs and Culture Committee, 9 January 2025; c 8.]
There is no need for the Scottish Government or the cabinet secretary to pat themselves on the back and say, “Everything is hunky-dory.” Those are not the only concerns that exist—there are many more.