His comments follow the release of the State of the Arts report, which revealed an arts sector impacted by a dramatic fall in funding in contrast to boosts of up to 70% in arts spending in countries such as Germany, France and Finland.

A 23% fall in programming in the UK’s music, theatre, dance and comedy events, and a 23% decrease in the number of hours of arts teaching in England state secondary schools were also among the key findings in the report, which was produced by Campaign for the Arts with the University of Warwick.