On the 24 July Boris Johnson gave his first speech as Prime Minister in Downing Street. In response to his appointment and subsequent speech, The Heritage Alliance sent a letter to the Prime Minister in which we outlined our funding priorities as set in our Backing the Bedrock Document, including:
• Championing our world-leading heritage sector on the world stage by maximising Brexit’s opportunities, and minimising its challenges for heritage;
• Ensuring continued National Lottery funding for the heritage sector and adequate funding for Historic England;
• Promoting heritage assets as part of creating vibrant places and more homes;
• Reforming the tax regime to promote the repair and maintenance of our nation’s irreplaceable heritage assets;
• Helping the heritage sector to attract more investment and engagement and build sector skills and capacity.
It is very positive that the Prime Minister talked about culture in his very first speech, and more recently, he delivered a speech at Manchester Science and Industry Museum, where he frequently mentioned heritage and culture throughout his speech, putting an emphasis on places having ‘a unique heritage, a unique character’. We are excited to see what this will mean for our sector under this Government.
Also of interest from his Manchester speech, was the promise of ‘£3.6 billion Towns Fund supporting an initial 100 towns. So that they will get the improved transport and improved broadband connectivity that they need.’
To read the transcript of the Prime Minister’s first speech, click here.
To watch the Prime Minister’s first speech, click here.
To read the transcript of the Prime Minister’s Manchester speech, click here.
To read our publications on our priorities, click here.