Covid-19: Museums, Galleries and Historic Buildings

Lord Kirkhope of Harrogate Excerpts

Thursday 21st May 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Kirkhope of Harrogate (Con)]

My Lords, not all museums, galleries and historic buildings are either well endowed or eligible at present for government support. There are many small but equally worthy projects in Yorkshire, for instance, including the Ripon museums. My proposal, which I hope my noble friend will convey to her Treasury friends, is that, like the United States system of deductibility, we freshly address the tax system to make it positively advantageous for large numbers of taxpayers to offer support to their chosen cause, covering not only charities but trusts and other organisations of similar community value. Widening the tax benefits substantially for those who wish to give will decisively, in my view, help to protect and develop this important sector. My noble friend, I hope, will take action on this and ask her colleagues to do the same.