The Chancellor of the Exchequer, John Healey MP, has unveiled the 2026 Autumn Budget.
In an initial reaction from the Campaign for the Arts, Director Jack Gamble said:
“There are parts of this Budget that will help the arts, and which we welcome – changes to business rates that will benefit many cultural organisations; paid parental leave for self-employed workers; new local powers, such as visitor levies, which could benefit culture if they are used well; and £15m to put books into children’s hands through BookTrust and Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library.
But the Budget did nothing to reverse the long-term, overall decline in public investment in culture, and the spending plans it leaves in place point to a further squeeze. Today the Chancellor said he wants to ‘reject crude cuts’ that ‘drive up costs elsewhere in the system’. He is right, and cuts to culture are a case in point: their costs are felt in people’s wellbeing, in the vibrancy of local communities and in our social fabric. We hope he will keep this in mind when setting plans for culture spending at next year’s Spending Review.
The government’s 10-year plan, due later this year, is a real opportunity to change course. Over 50,000 people have signed our petition asking for the arts to be part of it: available from childhood, accessible to all and thriving everywhere. By revitalising the arts, we can revitalise the nation.”
