UK Music General Election comment
05 July 2024 - Press releaseUK Music Chief Tom Kiehl Congratulates Sir Keir Starmer On Election Victory And Urges New PM To Use His "Resounding Mandate For Change" To Boost UK Music Industry
UK Music Chief Executive Tom Kiehl today congratulated Sir Keir Starmer on his General Election win and called on the new Prime Minister to use his "resounding mandate for change" to boost jobs, growth and opportunity in the sector.
He urged the "music-loving" PM to seize the moment and work with the industry to devise a long-term music strategy as a top priority to help deliver Labour's key election pledge of securing the highest sustained growth of the G7 group of nations.
The UK music industry already contributes almost £7 billion annually to the UK economy and supports 210,000 jobs - with its talent admired across the globe.
In his music industry message to the new Government, UK Music Chief Executive Tom Kiehl described Keir Starmer as a "Prime Minister with an immense passion for music".
UK Music, the collective voice of the music industry, outlined in its pre-election Manifesto for Music how the new Government could deliver growth and opportunities across the UK.
Labour has already embraced many of the Manifesto's recommendations, including the need to sweep away barriers facing UK musicians touring the EU post-Brexit, and the call for action against ticket touts who resell tickets to music fans at rip-off prices.
Tom Kiehl said:
"UK Music sends its congratulations to Sir Keir Starmer and his team on their election victory, which gives his new Government a resounding mandate for change.
"The incoming Labour Government has been elected on a platform to implement a plan for the creative sector as part of its industrial strategy. The potential of the UK music industry to contribute to growth must be at the heart of this plan.
"The music industry is facing a number of challenges, but also opportunities. A strong relationship between UK Music and the new Government will be essential to navigating what the rest of this decade brings.
"As a teenager who played the flute, piano, recorder and violin - as well as attending the Guildhall School of Music, Sir Keir is without doubt a music-loving PM.
"He has an immense passion for music. It is in his DNA. He fully understands the joys music can bring and, just as importantly, the huge challenges our sector faces.
"We share his passion and the music industry is keen to continue working with him to ensure everyone can benefit from the important life skills that learning a music instrument with the help of brilliant teachers can bring - as Keir himself has acknowledged.
"We have lost 1,000 music teachers from our secondary schools since 2012. That poses a huge risk to the talent pipeline on which our sector relies and deprives thousands of young people of an enjoyable and rewarding career.
"We will work with the members of the new Government - which has promised to recruit 6,500 new teachers - and strive to reverse that damaging decline.
"As the collective voice of the music industry, UK Music already has strong links with Sir Keir's top team. Our plan is to continue to build on those relationships and work across the political spectrum, including the many newly elected MPs, to deliver real change and further growth for our world-leading sector."
You can read the full recommendations to the new Government in UK Music's Manifesto for Music here.
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