Autumn Budget 2026

Lord Neri Excerpts

Thursday 12th November 2026 Lords Chamber

[Lord Neri (Lab) (Maiden Speech)]

My Lords, I congratulate my noble friend Lady Ussher on her incredible maiden speech, setting the tone as I make mine. I express my sincere gratitude to all noble Lords as I make my maiden speech. This is an unusual but very special place, and the warmth I have experienced from right across the House has been both generous and welcoming. To those noble Lords who thought they could trick me and have me vote in the wrong Lobby, I forgive you. This really is a precious moment, and words cannot convey my true appreciation.

My personal thanks go to Black Rod, the doorkeepers, the clerks and the wider teams right across the Palace. I would like to make a very special mention of Garter King of Arms, who left the best possible first impression on the journey I was about to undertake, and of my incredible supporters, my noble friends Lady Kennedy of Cradley and Lord Kennedy of Southwark.

My mum and dad were physically absent during my introduction, but not in spirit. They would have been so proud of their youngest. My Italian father became maître d’ of the Ritz and later the Savoy—places where service was of the highest gold standard, serving royalty, including the Queen and the Queen Mother, referring to him as Mr Bruno. In the 1980s and 1990s, he would reject famous celebrities for not wearing a tie. He would have been a great doorkeeper in this place. He knew exactly how to treat and respect people, and worked a long six-day week.

Meanwhile, my mother, born in Essex and true Labour, kept the house going with four children—and we were a handful. It was my mother who I saw work hard at first hand. She used the house telephone to make deals happen, from buying and selling shares to securing the best retail offers, all pre-internet. Learning from her negotiation skills and commerciality became a huge influence.

In his final 10 years of living with dementia, my father had a steady decline—a very difficult period for my family. It was heartwarming to hear the Prime Minister speak so passionately about reforming the care system. I could not have coped if it was not for my wife, Michelle. It was just too much. The most useful aid and relief during my father’s final years was the power of music. When he forgot his granddaughters’ names, or even mine, playing him Puccini, in particular songs from “La Bohème”, suddenly awoke emotion, rekindling memories and, most importantly for us, remembering who he was in the room with. For the past seven years I have been a trustee of Music for my Mind, a charity whose goal is to build the perfect music playlists for patients with dementia. The medical proof is available and we are now helping patients like my late father.

The power of music is also where my profession took me. In my 27th year of working in the music industry, I am currently chief executive at the Ivors Academy and a director at UK Music. I also sit on the British Copyright Council and wider creative industry groups outside of music. What benefits or hurts one sector tends to impact another. A current example is that a vast number of greeting-card illustrators have lost employment to generative AI. This has largely gone unnoticed. Let us heed the warning and protect our actors, musicians, composers and authors from being replaced—and, indeed, our British creative culture.

In 2024, the creative industries contributed the most in GVA to the UK economy at £145.8 billion. Let us be robust and protect the future of creators and the integrity of intellectual property, and strengthen our copyright framework with cross-party unity. Just as artificial houseplants lack oxygen, artificial intelligence lacks soul and emotion.

In parallel with AI comes the threat of a dwindling talent pipeline. Schools struggle to meet the requirements of the creative curriculum due to timetable pressures caused by external scrutiny of academic subjects over the arts. Let us not forget that to be a scientist or a mathematician you need to be a creative thinker. Creativity is the heart of what makes us human; without it there is no invention. Picasso famously warned us that everyone is a creator until someone says that they are not. Let that not be us. Since 2010, the total share of GCSE and A-level entries in arts subjects has shrunk by around 50%. Nottingham University recently closed down its music department, with others considering following suit.

To return to the debate, creators are entrepreneurs but are writing and performing alongside second or third jobs. The new measures taken in the Budget recognise that support is desperately needed. The tripling of the trading allowance of £3,000 will mean that those who are starting to turn their passion into a profession will be able to keep more of their money. Expanding parental pay will go to freelance creators for the first time. At a time of great need, it is also welcome to see that music venues will see a 20% reduction in their business rates.

Thank you for indulging me. I look forward to conversations regarding what I have opened with and to working with as many noble Lords from across the Chamber as I can.