Hospitality Sector

Tom Hayes Excerpts

Wednesday 3rd September 2025 Commons Chamber

[Tom Hayes (Bournemouth East) (Lab)]

Bournemouth relies heavily on hospitality and tourism. In my constituency alone, hospitality generates £162.8 million in revenue and employs 3,700 people across more than 30 venues. The sector creates vibrant communities, accessible jobs and attracts investment. Take Kris Gumbrell, the CEO of Brewhouse and Kitchen. He chairs an industry apprenticeship programme and has invested over £3 million to revive a derelict pub in Southbourne, creating a community hub and over 40 new jobs. Take Emma Sclanders of Wild & Ginger or Ricky Knowlton of Syds Slaps, who the new the Chief Secretary to the Prime Minister, my right hon. Friend for Bristol North West (Darren Jones), was so happy to visit just a few short months ago. Take James Fowler of the Larder House, Jon Roberts of Little Perth or Rich Slater of Sobo Beach. The list really does go on.

In Bournemouth East, we are blessed with fantastic hospitality owners. That is because, as entrepreneurs, they are investing time, money and personal risk to create jobs and community hubs. They shoulder costs and were often overlooked in policy discussions over the past 14 years. They want, as do we on the Labour Benches, balanced and targeted support for businesses to ensure that their efforts are being supported.

Hospitality matters so much because it is woven into everyday life. Whether it is coffee with friends, football at the stadium, a drink down the pub, date nights or quick bites before events, the hospitality sector provides so many of the events that we find so meaningful in our personal lives. They are a critical community space and social infrastructure that bring us together, and create belonging to each other and to the places we live in. And by God, over the last 14 years have we not seen our social infrastructure attacked and decimated?

We need to support our hospitality sector, and that is especially important for Government Members who represent coastal communities. Labour now represents more coastal communities than at any time since 1997, after nearly half the coastal seats in England and Wales were won from the Conservatives in 2024—that is no wonder when I hear my constituents talk about how Bournemouth has been left behind and how coastal communities have been forgotten. Labour is committed to putting that right, which means supporting our hospitality and tourism sectors.

[Fred Thomas (Plymouth Moor View) (Lab)]

I thank my hon. Friend for his passionate argument for the hospitality sector in our coastal communities. Plymouth has some of the best pubs in England, and I am convinced that beer tastes better in pubs in Plymouth than in any other place in the UK. I have a question for my hon. Friend: does he not think it is important to acknowledge that the previous Conservative Government’s catastrophic mismanagement of the hospitality sector during covid is still wreaking havoc?

[Tom Hayes]

I am astonished that nobody raised a point of order there. Of course Plymouth does not have the best beer in the country; Bournemouth East does. If not Bournemouth East, I am sure that many other constituencies would claim to, too. However, I agree with my hon. Friend that the hospitality sector has endured difficulty time and again, whether during the pandemic, the cost of living crisis or the previous Government’s reckless disregard for the sector’s needs, and so Labour needs to fix the foundations of the hospitality sector. We need to support our economy by stabilising it and, in so doing, supporting our hospitality businesses.

Coastal communities like Plymouth and Bournemouth have faced significant challenges, whether it be worse health outcomes, lower life expectancy, poorer education, lower pay or higher deprivation. We need to support our coastal communities, particularly given that they are so heavily reliant on tourism and industries that have struggled over recent years, such as hospitality. According to the Office for National Statistics, coastal communities have a higher proportion of hospitality businesses than inland areas. The hospitality sector in our coastal communities can therefore be a powerful economic driver at a time when we are desperate to raise productivity from its sluggish levels and grow our economy.

[Jess Brown-Fuller (Chichester) (LD)]

The hon. Gentleman is absolutely right to reflect the importance of coastal communities in driving the Government’s growth agenda. My constituency has the coastal community of Bracklesham, a small village where the Beach Café, Rewild Sauna and GOAT Coffee are doing incredible things in all coming together to bring so much more tourism to what is a beautiful part of my constituency. Does the hon. Gentleman recognise that there is a quid pro quo with businesses that are trying to drive growth, but are being hamstrung by the Government’s increased taxes and business rates?

[Tom Hayes]

The hon. Lady raises an interesting point on behalf of her constituents and businesses. I would, of course, say that were it not for the tax rise that allowed for investment in our NHS, we would not be seeing so many hospital appointments and such dramatic falls in NHS waiting lists, and we would not then be seeing people who were once ill returning to the workforce, so that they can earn, work and contribute to our economy, and then help our hospitality sector.

[Mr Angus MacDonald]

Would the hon. Gentleman admit that what actually happened in the Budget was a transfer of 2% of GDP from the private sector to the public sector? That private sector is, to a significant extent, the hospitality sector.

[Tom Hayes]

I thank the hon. Gentleman for his intervention, although I do not recognise what he is saying. I hope he is welcoming the NHS investment that his constituency is receiving, as well as the free breakfast clubs, place-based nurseries, stimulation of his local economy, improved pothole filling and improved connectivity. If he wishes to stand up and say that, I would be happy to give way to him again.

[Euan Stainbank (Falkirk) (Lab)]

rose—

[Tom Hayes]

The hon. Member for Inverness, Skye and West Ross-shire (Mr MacDonald) does not wish to, so I will give way to my hon. Friend the Member for Falkirk (Euan Stainbank).

[Euan Stainbank]

Does my hon. Friend agree that the constituents of the hon. Member for Inverness, Skye and West Ross-shire (Mr MacDonald) will have the opportunity to welcome those measures if Scotland votes next year for a Scottish Labour Government?

--- Later in debate ---

[Tom Hayes]

I think my hon. Friend has said enough—and I welcome what he has said.

I also want to recognise the difficult financial inheritance of this Government: how they needed to raise money to fix the foundations, to invest in our public services, and to deliver the change that people were calling out for during the general election and long before. All of us on the Government Benches, and I hope on the Opposition Benches too, are hearing from our constituents about the green shoots of recovery in our NHS, about schools finally starting to get the investment that they need, about those place-based nurseries and about childcare being rolled out on a larger scale.

What I want to see from our Government is a continuation of their hard work. I welcome the fact that the empty shops rental auction is under way in Bournemouth. I welcome, too, that the Government are moving ahead with supporting the hospitality sector. I would particularly like to see the valuation office properly pay regard to the issues that need fixing and that have been stated to me in places like Boscombe. At the last valuation, which was done under the Conservatives, neighbourhoods like Boscombe saw their rates stay flat or even increase, harming independent retailers. As a Labour Member who wants to support hospitality, I would like to see that corrected. I would like to see proposals including the raising of the rateable value threshold for 100% relief from £15,000 to £25,000 with tapered relief, the introduction of high street survival discounts, and the simplification of the appeals process with open data and fast-track support for SMEs. Those are just some of the ideas that I am hearing from constituents. I am sure that other colleagues will have many more that they wish to share, so I shall rest there.

--- Later in debate ---

[Robbie Moore (Keighley and Ilkley) (Con)]

Hospitality is under a huge strain. Pubs particularly are really struggling across the country, and indeed in my constituency of Keighley and Ilkley. Nationally, pub closures are estimated to be running at one establishment a day, thanks to this Labour Government’s hike in employers’ national insurance, the hike in the minimum wage and the looming threat of this Labour Government’s Employment Rights Bill. The number of closures is only climbing, and these punitive measures are pushing our pubs to the brink.

That is coupled with disposable income tightening for families, including families who may want to support our pubs. In the Bradford district, council tax has been raised by 10%. That impacts all my constituents who want to spend money at their pubs but cannot because they have to tighten their belt. The Dickie Bird in Long Lee and many other pubs are coming under a huge amount of strain as their overheads increase; they are, dare I say it, looking at closure. I met the owners of the Dickie Bird recently, and they expressed to me how much financial strain this Labour Government’s policies have put on them; that has ultimately led to them having to make the decision to close.

[Tom Hayes]

My understanding is that the Airedale NHS foundation trust covers the hon. Member’s constituency. The waiting list there has fallen from 14,779 to 13,846, there are 32,312 additional urgent dental appointments, and £3.3 million is going to the hospital to support building and other safety works. Does he welcome that investment, which is partly funded by the national insurance contributions increase?

[Robbie Moore]

As all of us know, I have been campaigning tirelessly to secure the funding to rebuild Airedale hospital, and it was finally announced in 2023, but it was very disappointing to many of my constituents when the completion date for the rebuild was pushed back by this Labour Government from 2030 to 2035. My constituents and others from surrounding constituencies will now have to wait much longer for the rebuild to be completed because of the decisions made by this Labour Government.

The Airedale Heifer, the Busfeild Arms, the Brown Cow and the Black Hat are all fantastic pubs in my constituency, and I encourage everyone to go along and buy a pint of Timothy Taylor’s—one of the finest breweries in this country. A pint of Landlord will go down very well. The Bridgehouse brewery in Keighley also produces fantastic ales. All these establishments want to be supported, but they are expressing to me the challenge of their increased overheads, resulting from this Labour Government, and particularly from the employers’ national insurance increase. The Turkey Inn in Goose Eye is also experiencing the same challenges.

These punitive measures are directly impacting communities, as I have said. They hurt young people who want to start out in the workplace. The Government have rightly made a great deal of the importance of getting young people into work, but the Employment Rights Bill, the increase in employers’ national insurance and the hike in the minimum wage are making it much more difficult for the hospitality sector to recruit young people and provide opportunities for them to thrive, get work experience and earn an income. That is impacting many constituencies, not least those across the Keighley and Ilkley area, which I represent.

Pride Month

Tom Hayes Excerpts

Monday 23rd June 2025 Commons Chamber

[Tom Hayes (Bournemouth East) (Lab)]

Today we raise a toast to Pride, and in so doing, we raise a toast to nothing less than life. We also recommit to liberation—the liberation of lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans people. There is a particular quotation that I like, which is this:

“Queerness is essentially about the rejection of a here and now and an insistence on potentiality…for another world.”

José Muñoz wrote that, and right now we should be insisting on that new world harder than ever.

When Pride is about liberation, it is not merely about the liberation of LGBT+ people; it is about the liberation of all. Although Pride is primarily of, by and for the people who dance under the same rainbow, it is also about liberation from prejudice. When LGBT+ people are safe, society is safe.

My life as a gay man was enhanced by the last Labour Government sweeping away the 1980s and early 1990s—the discriminatory legislation that fostered a hostile environment for LGBT+ people—but that progress has stalled. The introduction of equal marriage feels a very long time ago. Right now, in this place, we must pass the laws that LGBT+ people are demanding and that they need, so that no one is punished for being who they are or harmed for loving who they love.

We know the harms of inaction, and we know the harms of a slowness to act. Even if people are not physically attacked or verbally insulted—but they will be—younger people may grow up with the feeling that they are unworthy of love. They may grow up with the expectation never to love, nor to trust it when it appears. They may grow up without the ability to form relationships. As ever, 1980s pop music says it best:

“When I look back upon my life

It’s always with a sense of shame

I’ve always been the one to blame

For everything I long to do

No matter when or where or who

Has one thing in common too

It’s a sin.”

That speaks so beautifully about the ugliness of the shame that LGBT+ people are made to feel.

I commend our Government for taking significant steps to support LGBT+ veterans, and for announcing that they would make strands of hate crime targeted at disabled and LGBT+ people an aggravated offence. I was proud to sponsor an amendment to the Crime and Policing Bill, tabled by my hon. Friend the Member for North Warwickshire and Bedworth (Rachel Taylor), and I was pleased to hear the Minister speak about the progress of our Government in implementing our manifesto commitment to bring forward a truly trans-inclusive conversion therapy ban and to modernise, simplify and reform the intrusive and outdated gender recognition law and introduce a new process.

I only have a few seconds left, so I will close by saying this: let this Pride month be the spur that drives us on, not in another decade but in the rest of this decade, and not in another Parliament but in what I hope will be the first moments of a new, progressive Parliament.

Future of Public Libraries

Tom Hayes Excerpts

Wednesday 14th May 2025 Westminster Hall

[Tom Hayes (Bournemouth East) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to contribute to this debate with you in the Chair, Mr Dowd. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Mid Derbyshire (Jonathan Davies) for bringing forward this debate. It is an honour to celebrate the public library and the dedicated librarians who have kept them going in recent years.

Libraries are more than buildings filled with knowledge and books; they encapsulate who we are. Funded by our taxes, free at the point of need and delivery, they are the cornerstones of education, equality and opportunity in our country. Dr Seuss said, and he could not have put it better, that

“The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.”

I think that sums up the value of the library.

The public library is a safe space for people of all ages and backgrounds to explore their imagination. I feel embarrassed to say this in front of the Minister, who is a very learned gentleman—the writer of nine books—but the library provided me with my earliest opportunities to read. I explored Enid Blyton, “Goosebumps”, “Point Horror”, “The Hardy Boys”, sometimes even Nancy Drew books. I moved on to Ed McBain, Michael Crichton and Stephen King. I also explored Shakespeare, Austen and Dickens, but the lion’s share of what I learned was probably at the lower end of the cultural spectrum. It put me in a good position to learn, to be curious, to enjoy reading and to develop that lifelong habit. I want my constituents in Bournemouth East to be able to develop that too.

The public library also provided me with something important. I grew up in poverty, caring for two young disabled parents. If I had not had a public library on my doorstep where I could go to complete my homework in a warm, safe space, I do not think I would have been elected as an MP. Were it not for the kind eyes of librarians who looked at young children and saw potential and something they wanted to nourish, I do not think I could serve as the Member of Parliament for Bournemouth East. I want to thank the librarians around our country, and particularly those in my constituency, who have gone not just the extra mile but the extra 100 miles to keep libraries going in the face of significant cuts.

Since 2010, UK public libraries have lost around £232.5 million. That is because of cuts by the Conservative Government to the budgets of local authorities of all political colours and that decrease in funding being passed on. We have seen the closure of 800 libraries since 2010 and a loss of librarians, with their numbers going down from 24,000 in 2009 to 15,000 in 2018. That is a travesty.

In Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole council, where my constituency is based, in the last financial year we have seen hundreds of thousands of pounds taken out of libraries’ budgets by the Liberal Democrat alliance, reckoning with the mismanagement of council funds by the previous Conservative administration and the Conservative austerity that was passed on to it. The budget set by the three towns alliance caused libraries to shorten their opening hours and close for an extra day a week. The Bournemouth Daily Echo says that opening times were cut by an average of 10 hours per week per library across BCP. In response to the public consultation on that budget, 60% of respondents disagreed with the proposed closing times that have been introduced. Many staff have had their hours reduced, and some have left, which is a sad loss of valued and experienced people.

The Labour group in BCP council spoke against those cuts, particularly as the library strategy was yet to be published. It argued against the closures and changes to opening times and asked for a far more strategic approach, while acknowledging the funding pressures. Trying to be proactive and solutions-focused, the group said that no two neighbouring libraries should be closed on the same days at the same times and that we should see libraries as community hubs rather than just lenders of books.

That speaks to the challenge faced by our public library system. Although providing a library service is a key statutory function for councils, the quality and quantity of that service is up to the council; it is dependent on the funding that the council makes available. When we have such a crisis in social care, which is increasing the cost that councils have to bear, those who fall behind will be people who use libraries. We need a radical solution to social care and local government funding, which I know is beyond the Minister’s remit, but it is part of thinking strategically about what local councils mean in this day and age and what role libraries play in the delivery of services by local councils.

I want to echo what many Members have said about libraries being a critical place for MPs to hold their surgeries. I have held my surgeries in Boscombe, Castlepoint, Charminster, Pokesdown and Southbourne, and Springbourne libraries. In fact, the only library I have not held a surgery in is Tuckton, because it is too small. In going to those libraries, meeting the staff and bringing constituents into them, I have seen just how loved those libraries are, not just as places that lend books but as places where people can get guidance, advice and support.

In conclusion, it is important that we provide the funding that libraries need, but it is also important that we provide the funding to councils with a clear definition of what their roles are, so that libraries do not lose out. I thank the dedicated librarians of Bournemouth East, and although we are talking about public libraries, I also thank the House of Commons Library, which is a brilliant institution that has served MPs well. I have benefited enormously from it, and every time I go in, I am greeted with a smile and a significant amount of knowledge, so I want to say a huge thank you to the House of Commons Library staff.

Scientific and Regulatory Procedures: Use of Dogs

Tom Hayes Excerpts

Monday 28th April 2025 Westminster Hall

[Tom Hayes (Bournemouth East) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to speak with you in the Chair, Ms Jardine, and to follow the excellent speech of my hon. Friend the Member for North Ayrshire and Arran (Irene Campbell). I am honoured to be Bournemouth East’s Member of Parliament, representing the issues that matter to my town, and dog welfare is an important one. Bournemouth is a town of dog lovers: we care deeply about the safety of dogs. As a dog lover, it is upsetting that laboratories across the country experiment on dogs and defend their methods as being in the public interest. It is not in the public interest to harm dogs, nor is it good science. Animal testing is poor science, plain and simple. We must start treating man’s best friend better. As the Labour MP for Bournemouth East, I will always stand up for animals because they do not have a voice, and I will always stand up for dog lovers because they rightly use their voice to promote animal welfare. It is time for change, and that means legislation to end the use of dogs in scientific experiments. I support Herbie’s law.

In a time of heated debate, I think we can all agree on one fundamental point: dogs are brilliant. With that in mind, we need to do more. I want to thank, in my constituency, Cara and Linda in Muscliff, Jane in Pokesdown, Vanessa in Southbourne and Kate in Charminster for sharing their important views on this issue. As Kate says, every minute, five animals are suffering in experiments in British laboratories, even when non-animal are often cheaper and more reliable.

[Richard Foord (Honiton and Sidmouth) (LD)]

I wonder whether the hon. Gentleman could add to his thanks list Lorna Harries, the professor of molecular genetics at the University of Exeter, who has pioneered alternative approaches that can replace some of the experimental techniques that have been used on dogs.

[Tom Hayes]

I agree; the voices of scientific experts in this area are critical, and I welcome his intervention.

I thank everyone from my constituency who has contacted me about this important issue, including the 336 constituents who signed the petition. I also thank animal welfare charities such as the RSPCA on Richmond Park Road in my constituency, and Every Paw Matters, which I have spent time with.

In fact, we are such a town of dog lovers that the 110th mayor, Councillor George Farquhar, and his wife Alison, have rescued a greyhound called Billy and now have him as the official non-human consort of the mayor. Billy will wear a wrap that says “My human votes Labour” when it is election time, but when he is serving as the non-human consort, he will happily just wear a replica chain. That shows just how much Bournemouth loves dogs—[Laughter.] That is the right response.

To anyone who says we need dog testing, they are wrong. Dogs are most commonly used in secondary species testing, where, after a test happens on a mouse or a rat, researchers do a secondary test on another species, which is often a dog. But the industry says that secondary species testing is unnecessary. We know that non-animal methods can be much more accurate than using animal experiments.

I commend other leading voices in this field, including the local business Lush, which is based in Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole, and which shows how we can do better through science. Lush has never tested on animals since its doors opened in 1995, and it has funded over £2.7 million in research and science to end animal testing. It has an annual prize to reward scientists and educators who use non-animal methods and contribute to important scientific breakthroughs. It is truly leading the way.

There are things that the Government could do in the immediate term and the short term. It is wrong that so few inspectors are looking at over 3 million-plus procedures. The industry is marking its own homework. In the immediate term, we need more inspectors. We need a ban on secondary species testing, and exclusive reliance on non-animal research methods. In the short term, we need legislation that fully protects animals.

As a national of animal lovers, we are falling behind. The UK was the first country to create animal protection laws in 1822. We were the first to set up an animal welfare charity—the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. The European Union is moving further and faster away from the UK in tackling these cruel experiments on animals and dogs. We must catch up.

No other party has such a strong track record of protecting animals. I am proud to sit in a tradition that includes Keir Hardie, who died in 1915 carrying a pocket watch bitten by a favourite pit pony, having done much to secure better conditions for pit ponies. For our Labour Government, this should be unfinished business. Labour banned the cruel practice of hunting with dogs, and it banned deer hunting and hare coursing. It protected pets, livestock and wild animals, and combated international trade in animal products from any endangered species. It brought in a ban on the use of veal crates in the UK, banned fur farming and created the principle of a duty of care to meet welfare needs. Labour made it an offence to cause unnecessary suffering, mutilation and animal fighting. Labour banned cosmetic product testing on animals.

We passed the most comprehensive reform of animal welfare law in over a century. The last Labour Government stood up for animals. Starting with the provision of a right to have pets inside the rented household, we are back on track. However, back in power after 14 years, this Labour Government could go further. We can truly protect dogs and animals once again.

Protection of Children (Digital Safety and Data Protection) Bill

Tom Hayes Excerpts

2nd reading
Friday 7th March 2025 Commons Chamber

[Dr Ben Spencer (Runnymede and Weybridge) (Con)]

It is a pleasure to speak on behalf of His Majesty’s official Opposition on this important topic. Thank you for calling me now, Madam Deputy Speaker; I will not speak for too long, because there are so many Government Members who are keen to take part in this important debate.

I congratulate the hon. Member for Whitehaven and Workington (Josh MacAlister) on bringing this private Member’s Bill to the House and all the different people, companies, charities and organisations that he has worked with as part of the campaign to drive it forwards. I do feel for him, as I know what it is like for a Back Bencher in the party of Government to navigate the challenges of trying to use a private Member’s Bill—I have had two ballot Bills myself—as a campaign vehicle to drive change. I therefore hope that he will forgive me for some of the comments I shall make about the content of this Bill.

We can only deal with the text of the Bill before us, which was only published in the past few days, so my comments will necessarily reflect the detail of the hon. Member’s proposals. In a sense, this debates reminds me of Schrödinger’s cat, in that Members have made equally reference to a former Bill and a current Bill in their speeches. It feels like we are having a debate on a Bill that could have been and a debate on the Bill in front of us. Indeed, the hon. Member’s speech spoke to the lack of a need for further research, but equally the Bill calls for further research to take place.

We have heard some fantastic contributions from all parts of the House. I would like to note the contributions from my right hon. Friends the Members for North West Hampshire (Kit Malthouse) and for East Hampshire (Damian Hinds), and my hon. Friends the Members for Reigate (Rebecca Paul), for Bridgwater (Sir Ashley Fox) and for Broxbourne (Lewis Cocking), who reiterated the importance of driving forward change. Many stories and personal declarations have been shared about the impact of social media and the difficulty of parenting at this time. I should declare that I am also a parent, although thankfully my children are not at the stage when they have started consuming social media in the way that I have heard others talk about today.

[Tom Hayes (Bournemouth East) (Lab)]

The hon. Member is making a powerful point about the debate and how it has dwelled in part on the importance of evidence and research. Does he agree that the reason we have so much evidence is that, as MPs, we speak with so many children? I have in my hand letters from children in years 5 and 6 at St James’ Church of England primary academy, and if I may quote briefly from Eleanor and River, they say

“kids will also be exposed to inappropriate content such as unsuitable videos and pictures. They could feel unsafe, discouraged or exposed, and then they would not be able to unsee the images again.”

Does the hon. Member agree that we should be shielding children from that sort of content?

[Dr Spencer]

I am going to resist the temptation to be drawn into a discussion about research methodology in this area, although I have to tell the hon. Gentleman that I am very tempted to talk about the importance of case series data and qualitative data in terms of what people are telling us and what we are seeing ourselves, compared with cross-sectional or longitudinal studies or cluster studies looking at the impact of different schools. What I will say is that the stories of what children are being exposed to that we have heard in this debate and that we have all heard from our constituents are horrific—I do not think anyone would disagree with that. Clearly, we need to protect children from that.

At the heart of the Bill is the desire to drive forward our scientific understanding of the effects of smartphone and social media use on children’s mental health, learning and social development. I hope we hear a commitment from the Minister that the Government will conduct a detailed review in this complex area where so much is at stake, but I would also expand it further. Any analysis must take a clear-eyed approach to both the advantages and disadvantages offered by technological developments such as smartphones and internet access, looking at both the benefits to young people of increased connectivity and access to information, and even apps that help to manage health conditions such as diabetes at school and away from home, which will transform the lives of children and young people, and the increasing body of research that demonstrates the damaging effects of excessive smartphone and social media use on children and adolescents.

Creative Industries

Tom Hayes Excerpts

Monday 27th January 2025 Commons Chamber

[Ms Polly Billington (East Thanet) (Lab)]

At the weekend, the innovation, energy and entrepreneurship of the creative community in my constituency was on full display. Off Season Margate—part of our shared commitment to developing a year-round economy—was a weekend-long, town-wide exhibition of art created by a wide range of skilled creators, initiated by the award-winning artist Lindsey Mendick. From oil paints to embroidery, sculpture to ceramics and photography to screen prints, a whole range of skills were on display in the form of incredible art.

This was a democratic exercise in the power of creativity, involving world-renowned artist Tracey Emin and raw artists—people displaying their work in front rooms and cafés, as well as galleries, telling their stories, and reflecting their experience of the world through art. The weather played its part, because the sun was shining. Margate was buzzing. It was a clear demonstration of my three key arguments today: first, creativity is valuable not just because it is enjoyed by the consumers, but because it benefits the creators. They must be appreciated. Secondly, the creative industries have a crucial role to play in revitalising our coastal communities, where so many creatives choose to live. Thirdly, if this fundamental element of our society and economy is to thrive, we must develop the pipeline—the next generation of artists—by enshrining creativity in our national curriculum.

However, if we think of creativity simply as an industry, we lose something that makes it special. Creativity is fundamental to the human condition. It is woven into our daily lives and our history. The first example of civilisation is carvings on the walls of caves. Those people chose to record the world around them. They chose to leave a mark. They expressed themselves and the lives they lived. The need to express ourselves flows through human history and exists in every single one of us, but the ability to tap into it is artificially limited by an inequality of access to the arts. That is a failure of previous Governments, and because of it, we have fewer skilled creators and less well-rounded individuals, and society is depleted.

Talent is found everywhere in our country, but as so many hon. Members have pointed out, opportunity is not. If we do not allow every child the right to an arts education, we will miss out on the next Tracey Emin or Bob and Roberta Smith. The damage done to creative education by the introduction of the English baccalaureate and Progress 8, which led to a dramatic fall in the number of students taking up arts-based subjects, must be reversed at the earliest opportunity. I support that campaign, alongside Members from across the House who share my concern about the impact of those changes on our children, our society and our economy. How can we expect the creative industries to come anywhere close to their potential when the education system is actively dissuading children from studying creative subjects? Every arts subject is important, and every child deserves an arts education. As my badge from the Royal Academy of Arts says,

“Art is a serious subject.”

Art is never more serious than for children with special educational needs, for whom creative education is a vital tool allowing them to access learning and live their fullest lives. Sammy’s Foundation was set up by my constituent Patricia Alban after the tragic death of her son. Sammy had a rare genetic disease and autism and was unable to attend mainstream schools, but he found his passion and skill in craft. The foundation now helps other children with disabilities to learn heritage crafts as a way of uncovering their talents and to lead meaningful, connected lives with a sense of purpose. Considering we have a huge skills gap in our heritage crafts sector, it feels to me that it is a win-win to invest in arts education that harnesses the aptitudes of neurodivergent children, preparing them for purposeful and rewarding work creating beautiful things and contributing to the economy, rather than seeing them as a problem to be managed.

As well as inequality of access to the arts, there is inequality of reward. According to research from the University of Glasgow, the median income for visual artists is £12,500 a year—a 40% decrease in earnings since 2010. That is almost 50% lower than the income of a full-time minimum wage worker. On top of that, one in three creative industry workers is freelance.

When discussing the rise of AI and the challenges it poses for artists, my constituents are far from the luddites that some would like to dismiss them as. Polling from the Design and Artists Copyright Society shows that 84% of artists would agree to license their work for AI training so long as they received fair pay for it. However, they know that the fundamental act of creation is something that will always differentiate that which a machine has learned from what a human has made. Their right to have that work protected, and their freedom to engage with AI on their terms, is something on which I and many others will continue to seek reassurances from the Government.

This is not about resisting change; it is about bringing in change in a fair and equitable way. This is already a sector with low pay and a lack of security. If we do not put in proper safeguards, we will end up making jobs in this sector even more unappealing for those whose passion is to work in it. Data from the Creators’ Rights Alliance shows that 30% of photographers have already lost clients due to generative AI, while 26% of illustrators and 36% of translators have reported losing work. Two thirds of writers believe generative AI will cost them future earnings. We cannot afford to lose the ideas and imagination of these people—they are the people building the amazing heritage of Thanet, to shape an economy that thrives all year round and creates a pipeline of art and skilled creatives for the whole country. They also project our soft power into the world.

The benefits of investment in the creative sector in coastal communities is demonstrated by the Turner Contemporary in my constituency, which has contributed to a lively ecosystem around the visual arts, among many other things—all without a university to support it. I look forward to there being a coastal dimension to the creative industrial strategy that can engender similar vibrancy and sustain such initiatives for the long term.

[Tom Hayes (Bournemouth East) (Lab)]

I, too, represent a coastal seat, and I, too, know how coastal seats have been forgotten as part of the national story about our creativity. Bournemouth is the resting place of Mary Shelley and was home to Robert Louis Stevenson, and it is also home to many institutions such as Bournemouth University, the Arts University Bournemouth, the Russell-Cotes art museum and gallery and the Boscombe Arts Depot. The list could really go on—but I will not go on. Does my hon. Friend agree that coastal communities such as ours, which have voted Labour for the first time in a very long time—perhaps even for the first time—need their Labour Government to focus on their creative possibilities and to support the jobs and skills of the future?

[Ms Billington]

Coastal communities across the country are often places people escape to in order to find a place where they can really thrive. That is why coastal areas will be so important in developing a proper creative industry strategy.

East Thanet has long been an engine room for our country’s creative industries. If its future is to be as glorious as its past, and if we are to continue to use our soft power globally through our internationally famous artists and creators, creativity needs to be valued in and of itself. Creators need to be able to create with dignity and security, and all generations should be able to access art education to enhance their lives and society as a whole.