Labour Policies : Culture, Media and Sport Policy

According to the Labour Party website the Labour Party will try to achieve the following if they retain power at the 2010 general election on May 6th:

Labour has put culture, media and sport centre stage since we came to power in 1997 – in the last decade we have increased public funding by £541.3 million, an increase of 47.3 per cent. Britain offers some of the best arts, cultural and sporting experiences in the world. We are home to institutions and events which enrich our own lives while attracting visitors from across the globe. We will continue to support and sustain creativity, to back our arts and cultural institutions, and to compete globally both in sport and in offering a venue for major sporting events.

We want to open up the arts and culture to everyone. We have put in place major initiatives, such as free entry to national museums and galleries, and free theatre for young people, to give people greater access to the amazing and varied cultural experiences Britain has to offer. Our aim now is to ensure that all people, especially the young, have the chance to find, explore and use their artistic talents.

British creative industries have emerged as the leading players in the global economy and under Labour have gone from strength to strength. Two million people are employed in creative jobs and the sector contributes £60 billion a year – 7.3 per cent – to the British economy. Over the past decade the creative sector has grown at twice the rate of the economy as a whole and the annual exports in cultural goods amount to £11.6 billion.

Our commitment to sport has shone through in increasing opportunities for young and old to participate, at all levels, in sporting activity, as well as in the recent successes of our elite athletes, to whom we have given unprecedented levels of financial support. The successful campaign to bring the Olympic and Paralympic Games to London in 2012 will result in not only a spectacular sporting event and opportunity for Britain to showcase itself, but will leave a lasting legacy of regeneration in London’s East End.

We want to ensure that all of Britain benefits from the digital revolution and has access to broadband. In government, we believe it is right to intervene in order to deliver access to those parts of the country to which the market will not. We will make the necessary investment in our digital infrastructure, delivering universal access to broadband by 2012, with an ambition for 90 per cent of the population to access superfast next-generation broadband by 2017.

Labour Party Culture, Media and Sport Policy :http://www.labour.org.uk/policies/culture

I would be interested to hear both positive and negative views on Labour’s Culture, Media and Sport policies in the comments below?