Cultural Sector: Freedom of Speech

Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay Excerpts

Wednesday 8th January 2025 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Twycross (Lab)]

While I support philanthropy, I am clear that there is a place for government funding as well. We need to make sure that we do not cut off people’s willingness to put money into the arts for fear of repercussions. We have to get the balance right between saying that the state should fund art and recognising that there is a valuable source and tradition of philanthropy in this country. For example, I think of Carnegie libraries. There is a huge tradition of philanthropy in arts and culture in this country that we should celebrate and want to continue, rather than rejecting it out of hand.

[Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay (Con)]

I warmly welcome what the Minister has just said. Following a rather spurious campaign, including by Members of your Lordships’ House and the Society of Authors—it turned out that its own charitable arm had investments in fossil fuels—Baillie Gifford was bullied into ending its long-standing generous support for book festivals, including in Cambridge, Edinburgh, Wigtown, Cheltenham and Henley. Does the Minister share my concern about such campaigns? They cause great distress to the staff and volunteers who run such events. Does she agree that cultural events, such as literary festivals, are precisely the sort of forum in which people should be able to come together to exchange ideas and disagree constructively?

[Baroness Twycross (Lab)]

I would like to think that the art of disagreeing constructively is something we do reasonably well in your Lordships’ House—on most subjects. In relation to sponsorship, it is something we need to consider. People have the right to object to the work that organisations do, but when it is to the extent that people are feeling harassed in the workplace, we have to recognise that, with the right to express and protest comes a responsibility not to harass and intimidate those trying to do their job.