More than 13,500 people have signed a petition urging new prime minister Andy Burnham to put the arts in the upcoming ‘10-year plan’ he announced on his first day in Downing Street last Monday.

Launched by Campaign for the Arts on 25th July, the petition describes the 10-year plan as a “golden opportunity” to renew Labour’s pledge to “place the arts back where they belong, at the centre of a new, hopeful, modern story of Britain”.

Alongside adding the arts and culture to the 10-year plan, the petition also urges the prime minister to “commit to building a country where the arts are available from childhood, accessible to all and thriving everywhere”.

The campaign refers back to the priorities of the Labour government after the Second World War, which established the Arts Council and produced the Festival of Britain as a “tonic to the nation”.