UK govt affirms post-Brexit commitment to music

In a move welcomed by industry groups, the British government has appointed TV executive Sir Peter Bazalgette to lead an independent review into the UK’s creative industries as part of its wider post-Brexit industrial policy.

Sir Peter’s review, announced yesterday in the Building Our Industrial Strategy green paper, will be joined by similar reviews into four other ‘key sectors’ – life sciences, ultra low-emission vehicles, industrial digitalisation and nuclear power – and focus on “how the UK’s creative industries, like our world-leading music and video-games industries, can help underpin our future prosperity by utilising and developing new technology, capitalising on intellectual property rights and growing talent pipelines” following Britain’s exit from the EU.

Outgoing UK Music chief executive Jo Dipple says the government’s commitment to “the development of skills, starting and growing businesses, encouraging trade and inward investment, cultivating world-leading sectors and driving growth are all to be welcomed and supported”.

“The announcement that Sir Peter Bazalgette is to take a lead in fashioning a deal for the creative industries is encouraging and sends a powerful message about the importance of this valuable sector,” she comments.

Dipple also draws attention to the umbrella body’s own Industrial Strategy for the Creative Industries report, published last September, “based on three pillars of trade: a framework to trade, incentives to trade and regionalisation of trade”.

“The announcement that Sir Peter Bazalgette is to take a lead in fashioning a deal for the creative industries is encouraging, and sends a powerful message about the importance of this valuable sector”

The Creative Industries Federation, whose Brexit Report in November called for “the creative industries to be put at the heart of government thinking as the country develops its new industrial strategy”, says it “look[s] forward to working with [Sir Peter] on how the UK’s creative industries can help underpin future prosperity”.

Federation president John Kampfner says: “When we first began talking about the creative industries being a crucial part of any future industrial strategy, no such strategy was on the table and many people believed such a move unlikely. But the strength of argument has won the day. We have come a long way in a short time.”

The federation’s founder and chairman, graphic designer Sir John Sorrell, adds: ” I founded the Creative Industries Federation because for decades the sector had been under-represented in government. Recognition of the economic contribution and the potential for growth across the whole of the country is exactly what we wanted to achieve.

“But this is just the start, and the federation will continue to lead the way, not just in the UK, but in the regions and internationally.”

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