EXCLUSIVE

Chancellor Rachel Reeves has been accused of turning a deaf ear to Britain’s musicians that has plunged the future prosperity of the nation’s world leading industry into jeopardy. A new poll for the Daily Express’ Strike A Chord crusade reveals that 85% of adults believe the Labour Government has failed in its promise to provide better support for the arts.

And ahead of the budget with the under-pressure chancellor facing the prospect of tax hikes and difficult choices on public spending – the survey in conjunction with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (RPO) reveals a significant rise in the percentage of adults that expected the Government to do more for the music industry. While investment in defence, net zero projects, the NHS and AI remain key priority areas for Government spending, the real and consequential challenges faced by the arts are also of great public concern –amid the closure of hundreds of music venues and children in state schools being excluded from music lessons due to a lack of funding –both major issue being fought by the Express’ campaign.

Last year, on the eve of the General Election, an RPO survey revealed that 76% of adults wanted the incoming administration do more to support arts and culture in Britain.

A year on, this has now risen to 85% and comes at a time when the public are most likely to rate music as the UK’s greatest export to the world (47%), ahead of other areas of excellence, including film and television (39%), sport (25%), English law (23%), manufacturing (17%) and business innovation (13%).

Last month’s curriculum review signalling the end of the controversial school EBacc system that was prioritised English, science and maths, offered positive signals, the new survey suggests UK parents want to see decisive action on music access, provision and funding.

The poll for Strike A Chord asked 2,090 adults which projects they would like to see the Government doing to do more to support and found top of the wish-list was more funding for music and singing lessons in primary schools (30% – up from 21% last year).

There has also been a significant increase in the percentage of people that want the Government to commit more levelling-up funds to support regional and grassroot venues across the UK – up from 18% in 2024 to 29% this year.

This comes after the Express warned how grassroots music venues remain in crisis with 10,000 night time venues at risk of closure by 2028 with the potential loss of 150,000 jobs.

Other initiatives that the public believe require greater Government support include making music more accessible to young people from all backgrounds (24%), further reducing the rate of VAT on tickets for concerts (22%), increasing arts funding for state schools (16%) and giving equal importance to music and creative subjects at GCSE and A Level.

Whilst the call for the Government to support for the arts was strongest in London (89%), in every region the percentage of people wanting more Government investment in the Arts has risen over the last 12-months – with the biggest rises recorded in the North East (rising from 70% to 87%), North West (75% to 88%), and the South East (77% to 87%).