Jack Gamble, director of Campaign For The Arts, said: “Creative Scotland rightly maintains reserves for an emergency, but none of us expects that emergency to be created by the Scottish Government. Last year, ministers gave Creative Scotland 10 per cent less funding than five years previously, in real terms.

“When they tried to impose another 10 per cent cut this year, despite the huge pressures on artists and cultural organisations arising from the pandemic and cost of living crisis, thousands joined our campaign to express their outrage. It beggars belief that only seven months after the Scottish Government abandoned the £6.6m cut, saying they had listened and parading a £6.6m ‘uplift’ to support the sector, they are rowing back on their promise and slashing the budget anyway.”