Queen’s Speech

Baroness Bonham-Carter of Yarnbury Excerpts

Thursday 12th May 2022 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Bonham-Carter of Yarnbury (LD)]

My Lords, I thank the Minister for her opening speech. I shall concentrate on DCMS matters. How excellent it is to have a Minister from that department responding. I remember a time when culture did not even make it as a subject for the Queen’s Speech. You wait years and then seven DCMS Bills come along.

We support the thrust of the Online Safety Bill. It is very important, but the devil will be in the detail on the definition of harms, especially harms to our children, enforcement powers and the fine line between defending free speech while protecting citizens from online abuse and disinformation, which, as we have seen in the US, potentially undermines democracy itself. My noble friend Lord Clement-Jones will expand on this and other digital Bills.

We also welcome proposals for an independent football regulator and support Tracey Crouch’s review. My noble friends Lord Marks and Lord Wallace will cover justice and the constitution. We have just heard from the Minister of State for the Home Office. The House will not be surprised to hear that I will be leaving legislation from her department to my noble and—I cannot resist a literary reference—brilliant friend Lord Paddick.

There is, however, one very important matter where there is overlap: the ability, or lack of it, of our creative artists to tour Europe. My noble friend Lord Strasburger has been leading a campaign on the quagmire that has ensued as a result of a no-deal Brexit fuelled by Home Office intransigence. It is interesting that the noble Lord, Lord Frost, chief Brexit negotiator, admitted that a deal could have been done with Europe, but the Government were too purist about the issue. Does the Minister accept that this has been nothing short of a disaster for our creative sector? Does he not agree with the noble Lord, Lord Frost, that the Government should take another look at what he calls “mobility issues” and try to salvage the situation?

As we have heard, there is to be a media Bill. I start by thanking the Government for commitments to important reforms on prominence and listed events, but swiftly move to gloom at their attitude to public service broadcasting in general. The headline of the Queen’s Speech is levelling up, so why are the Government determined to privatise Channel 4, the consequence of which, as the noble Baroness, Lady Merron, just said, will be levelling down?

There is nothing short of vandalism going on in removing the publisher broadcaster model. Channel 4 was conceived for a reason, to grow the UK independent TV sector, and that is exactly what it has done. Any impact assessment—has there been one?—would surely show that reducing commissions from independent companies from 100% to 25% will have a detrimental effect on the sector and, more specifically, on nurturing the small, independent producers and start-ups: levelling down.

Removing the requirement that a new owner operates offices outside London, the Government

“does not deem it appropriate to be prescriptive on … physical footprint”,

yet the same Government insisted that Channel 4 relocate its headquarters to Leeds and creative hubs to Bristol and Glasgow, which has brought huge advantages to those and surrounding areas: levelling down. Reducing the required spend in nations and regions from 50% to 35% will lead to a potential loss of £85 million to those very areas that the Secretary of State purports to want to help.

On removing the requirements in relation to training and skills, Channel 4 has used both its cash and its leverage power to invest in and promote training, particularly of underrepresented groups. With no obligations and a new commitment to shareholders, does the Minister really see this continuing? It is levelling down again.

Contrary to what the White Paper claims, due to the imaginative expansion of its digital channels, Channel 4’s demographic is young and diverse. Its figures show significant spend on original content and investment in indies. Advertising revenues have increased over the last two years. I hope the Minister accepts that the figures in the government paper need looking at again.

The big question is: why? The public do not want it. When the question of privatisation was put out to public consultation, 91% of respondents were opposed. Can the Minister explain the logic behind having a public consultation and then ignoring it? Is it not an insult to dismiss those who took part as campaign bots, when 91% certainly cannot have been?

As the noble Baroness, Lady Merron, mentioned, the Government say they want to protect Channel 4 from the streamers, but the fact is that it does not need protection. It is in rude financial health and does not need privatisation to prosper, while supposedly thriving Netflix faces financial woes, with a loss of 200,000 subscribers over the last three months. As the former chief executive, David Abraham, has said, privatising Channel 4 is

“a solution in search of a problem.”

Channel 4 is just a part of a broader PSB ecology that lies at the heart of this country’s extraordinary success in exporting programmes around the world, creating jobs in the creative industries across the UK and bringing UK influence to bear across the world—soft power. At the centre of this is the BBC, yet in its centenary year, after it contributed so much during the pandemic and is now doing so again through superb coverage of the war in Ukraine, this Government have chosen to freeze the licence fee, effectively depriving the BBC of more than £3 billion over the next five years. The Government are putting their determination to weaken the BBC before the national interest.

Turning to the wider cultural sector, I have heard the Secretary of State, in person, passionately and articulately expressing her belief in the need to level up through the spreading of the arts, culture and creativity, and all the benefits they bring, more evenly across the nation. So please listen to the regions and get this right. Do not employ a blunt instrument and destroy an admirable aim.

Here is an example. I declare an interest as a trustee of the Lowry in Salford, one of the 18 most deprived areas in England. For us, the Royal National Theatre is a crucial partner. Its commitment to touring, and the Lowry’s role as its home venue in the north-west, have meant that audiences in that region have been able to experience some of the most celebrated theatre productions of the last 20 years. Is it not obvious that if funding for the NT is cut by 15%, it will inevitably entrench into its London base and reduce its touring commitments, and the regions will suffer? Encouraging locally produced work to flourish must be coupled with sharing what the rest of the nation has to offer. I think there is a misunderstanding of where deprivation exists. Large pockets are in London, whose cultural institutions have important outreach programmes.

The White Paper talks about a narrow skills base and how levelling up can address this, but the acquiring of a skill begins at school and successive Conservative Governments consistently and persistently undervalue and undermine arts education. STEM has been the mantra, but surely for education to

“help every child fulfil their potential”,

as mentioned in the Queen’s Speech, it should be STEAM. This Government say that arts subjects are not strategic priorities. The same Government’s industrial strategy prizes the creative industries as a priority sector. Can the Minister explain the disconnect?

Finally, the UK’s creative and cultural workforce still does not adequately reflect the diversity of the UK population. I hope that the Minister will pay attention to the report Creative Majority and that part of the levelling-up support, in particular the £560 million for youth services, will be available for cultural and creative activities.

To end, I say a big yes to levelling up but listen to the regions as to what they really need. When the Government say, as in the White Paper, that:

“Broadcasters and the wider media have significant potential to contribute”,


they should recognise that this will not happen if they employ a wrecking ball to our PSBs. Listen to the words of Steve McQueen, possibly our greatest creative industry, at the BAFTAs last Sunday:

“We have great ideas … Other people have … more money — the Americans — but we have great ideas, that’s what makes us who we are … we need the BBC and Channel 4 to help sustain that and our identity – because I don’t want us to be, no disrespect, Yanks”.


By the way, I am half Yank and I will accept no disrespect.