A Tory revolt has emerged over “patronising” claims that funding for established cultural institutions contributes to the government’s levelling up pledge, amid concerns from ministers and MPs that “real levelling up” projects for the underprivileged have been slashed. Rishi Sunak is expected to be confronted this week over the issue during prime minister’s questions. Some MPs believe that describing funding for well-established cultural organisations as “levelling up” is meaningless if it is not aimed at more deprived households. Frustration emerged after the Arts Council England announced a round of funding this month. Darren Henley, its chief executive, said it was the “widest-ever spread of investment across the country”. It came after ministers told the council to spend more money on arts organisations outside London as part of its levelling up programme. However, after being told to herald the funding for their constituencies, some Tory MPs complained that funding for some bigger groups had been simply rebranded as “levelling up”. They said other local schemes directed at poorer households, funded from different sources, had been cut. Some raised concerns directly with the culture secretary, Michelle Donelan.
Among those to raise concerns was women’s minister Maria Caulfield. She complained that the Glyndebourne opera house in her Lewes constituency had been given £800,000, while the local children’s music service was being cut because the local council had “run out of funds”. Lucy Allan, the Tory MP for Telford, said it was “patronising to pretend this is levelling up”. She said funding was being “shovelled by the Arts Council into the same projects in my constituency claiming to be levelling up, with real levelling up projects, like giving the most disadvantaged children in the country access to a musical instrument, being completely cut”.
It comes amid persistent concerns among Tories that the pledge to level up the country, made by Boris Johnson in his 2019 election pitch, has become an empty tag. Many believe it is at further risk before expected public spending cuts in the forthcoming autumn statement. Allan said Arts Council funding for her area had gone to a well-established world heritage site. She said that while local funding was welcome, there had to be a meaning behind the levelling up label for it to be credible. “Levelling up needs to be about more than just moving taxpayers’ money from more affluent areas to the Midlands and the north,” Allan told the Observer. “Of course, I welcome taxpayers’ money to support a fabulous world heritage site in my constituency, Ironbridge Museum Gorge Trust. But this is not levelling up. Levelling up is about people and needs to be done with communities, not to them. Levelling up creates opportunities.” It is understood that the schemes cited as being cut by the two MPs had not been funded by the Arts Council and that the one scheme in Allan’s constituency that applied for backing had received it. However, Allan said the school involved in her children’s music scheme would have applied had it known funding was available. “The Arts Council needs to work with local communities and their representatives to ensure taxpayers’ money benefits communities where the greatest change can happen,” she said. Supporters of the Arts Council England package said there had been huge support for the way it had allocated funds. At the time the funding was announced, Donelan said: “People living in areas from Wolverhampton to Wigan, and Crawley to Chesterfield, will now get to benefit from the deep economic and social rewards culture can bring.” An Arts Council England spokesperson said: “People have told us they want easy access to fantastic cultural events and creative activities, where they live. Through this programme we’re investing so that more people, in more places, can experience high-quality creativity and culture. We are investing in real mix of organisations of all shapes and sizes, from established icons, such as the Royal Opera House and Royal Shakespeare Company, to the best of our museums and libraries.”