Oral Answers to Questions

John Glen Excerpts

Thursday 15th January 2026 Commons Chamber

[Lisa Nandy]

My hon. Friend has just laid down the gauntlet for everyone else in this Chamber—I look forward to hearing their pitches too. He is absolutely right to say that Basingstoke has an amazing and rich culture. In advance of today, I was looking at some of the things that Basingstoke has to offer. As well as the Willis Museum and being the birthplace and home of Jane Austen, it also appears to be home to the world’s oldest wedding cake, which was news to me. I am looking forward to seeing his bid. I admire his competitive spirit, and I am sure that he will put up a staunch challenge that others will want to meet.

[John Glen (Salisbury) (Con)]

I congratulate the Secretary of State on getting the town of culture competition to happen. I was briefly Arts Minister nine years ago, and Sir Phil Redmond did an amazing job then of setting out the distinction between city of culture and town of culture. I seek the Secretary of State’s advice about Salisbury. As it is really a town with a cathedral, should it bid for town of culture or the city of culture competition, as it celebrates its 800th year since its charter?

[Lisa Nandy]

I imagine that the right hon. Gentleman is anticipating that Salisbury would be a worthy winner of both, and I look forward to seeing whichever bid he submits. There is a distinction between city of culture and town of culture. He will know that larger towns were eligible under the last Government to apply for the city of culture competition, but we have designed this contest so that small and medium-sized towns can also get a hearing. We would be delighted to see a bid in whichever part of the contest he believes is most fitting.