ABO calls on new PM to 'invest in and support the UK’s orchestras'

The Association of British Orchestras (ABO) has released a statement calling on the UK’s newly announced prime minister, Liz Truss, and her new administration to ‘invest in and support the UK’s orchestras’.

Following the announcement of the results of yesterday’s conservative party leadership vote, Truss was revealed as the new leader of the Conservative party by a margin of around 21,000 votes. She was sworn in as prime minister by The Queen at Balmoral earlier today.

In a statement setting out ‘the hopes and expectations of the UK’s orchestral sector for the new administration’, the ABO has called on Truss to ‘take a joined-up, cross Departmental approach’ to supporting the UK’s orchestras ‘at a time of unprecedented economic and geopolitical challenges’.

The document encourages the new prime minister to follow four main strategies:

• ‘Build future resilience and sector recovery’ by extending Orchestra Tax Relief and increasing public investment in the sector.
• ‘Carry the UK’s creative excellence internationally’ by commiting ‘the political will necessary to apply the practical solutions the ABO has put forward to resolve post-Brexit touring challenges’ as well as providing public investment for international touring.
• ‘Extend our reach’ by increasing public investment in UK orchestras through local authority funding and infrastructure, and the extension of cultural tax reliefs to include digital concerts.
• ‘Build a future, homegrown and diverse talent pipeline’ by funding access to instrumental tuition and delivering on the recently released National Plan for Music Education.

You can find out more about the ABO here.