The UK’s shadow culture secretary Thangam Debbonaire has promised a Labour government will “champion” the creative industries after accusing the incumbent Conservatives of “failing” the sector.
Speaking this morning (Wednesday, April 24) at the Creative Cities Convention in Bristol, Debbonaire said Labour would treat creative industries as key drivers of economic growth, and delivered a broadside at the Tories’ lack of support for creative education and upskilling, as she laid out her party’s commitments.
“Championing the creative industries is what Labour will do in government,” she said. “Arts and creativity are not optional. They’re essential. The creative industries can and should be the engine of our economic growth.”
Debbonaire, who was appointed in the role last year, stressed skills for young people are a high priority for Labour, adding that she is working with shadow education secretary Bridget Phillipson to place creativity back into the school curriculum, and “sort out” apprenticeships so that they “work better”.
She added that skills are “one of the many” areas in which the creative sector had been let down by the current government.
“They have denigrated arts degrees, got themselves all tied up in culture wars of their own making, and in the meantime failed to support a pipeline of talent for the creative industries,” she said.
Debbonaire said the screen sector is in particular need of skilled workers to carry out the “dynamic jobs” of the future.
Labour plans include replacing the Apprenticeship Levy – introduced in 2017 – with a “more flexible” Growth and Skills Levy to allow businesses to spend up to 50% of their contributions on shorter, modular and more flexible training courses which, she suggested, are better suited to the short-term, project-based nature of the screen sector.
Current legislation makes it compulsory for employers with an annual wage bill over £3m to invest 0.5% of its annual wage bill on apprenticeships.
The former shadow leader of the House of Commons also promised Labour would work with the screen sector and education providers to develop courses at new Technical Excellence Colleges that would help “tear down every barrier to opportunity”, and establish an expert body called Skills England to focus on the skills needs of the coming decade.
“We know that where you were born, who you went to school with, who your parents are, who you know, should not be what determines your future. It should not be what determines whether or not you can find your creativity. And a creative education is just too important to leave to chance,” she said.
Freelancers and AI
In a wide-ranging speech, Debbonaire promised to “speak up” for the basic rights of freelancers including the right to a written contract, clamping down on late payments, strengthening health and safety assurances, and giving them blacklisting protections and whistleblower safeguards. These assurances, she said, would make a freelance career “viable” and “less precarious”.
She also said Labour would support creators in harnessing the power of AI in a “fair” way by protecting copyright and IP rights, including in trade deals with other countries.
“It won’t be easy,” she said. “This will involve technical solutions that we’ll need to work on, but we will consult widely with the sector and make sure that we build modern, sensible regulation that works for creators.”
She concluded her speech by stressing the importance of impartial news amid the rise of disinformation.
“There are big decisions to make about the future of public sector broadcasting in the next few years. We have to make sure that, together, we are communicating the importance of public sector broadcasting to our national life and our economy,” she said.
A version of this story first appeared on Screen’s sister site, Broadcast
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