Lisa Nandy: ‘Equal opportunity across the nation will help enrich our culture’

On a visit to Bradford earlier this month, I met with a group of young people who have spearheaded the city’s 2025 City of Culture programme.

Hearing them speak with such pride and passion about their hometown – the diversity and rich heritage that had shaped their community – was truly inspirational. It felt like the emergence of the next generation, adding their voice to our national story.

But for far too long in communities up and down our country, too many voices have been ignored. It hasn’t always been this way. Throughout history, our national story has been one of ordinary people doing extraordinary things.

Seeking equality of opportunity

The challenge we face today is not an unequal distribution of talent, but of unequal opportunity. For too many people in towns and villages across our country, it is geography – not ability – that will determine their contribution.

The concentration of opportunity – of training, jobs, facilities and investment – denies the wealth of talent that exists in every community across our country to flourish. Speaking to senior television executives last week, I was clear that this Government won’t accept the status quo.

The benefits of a new approach are clear to see. In Birmingham, screenwriter and producer Steven Knight has transformed a string of the city’s canal-side factories into the Birmingham Film Academy – providing opportunities and training to local people who want to pursue a career in film.

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The investment includes a commitment to recruit at least 20% of its workforce from the city’s most deprived areas and a plan to build affordable housing so they can live within walking distance of work.

Knight’s approach is a business decision. A skilled workforce – recruited and trained locally – delivers significant economic benefits to both the local community and wider broadcast ecosystem.

This Government is committed to supporting initiatives like these and ensuring similar projects have the support they need to succeed.

Priorities for government

But our ambition for creative industries – a sector that supports 800,000 jobs and contributes £125bn to the UK economy each year – will go further.

The Department for Education is launching a review of the national curriculum that will put creativity and sport back at the heart of our children’s development.

For the young people who cheered on our Team GB athletes at last month’s Olympic and Paralympic Games and dreamed of emulating their successes, they will know that this Government has a plan to help them achieve it.

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We will give back control of the assets and institutions that give local communities so much identity and purpose.

The Football Governance Bill – announced by the Prime Minister in the summer – will ensure that fans are put back at the heart of their local clubs and safeguard them for future generations. And a new Community Right to Buy scheme will empower communities to protect the assets that matter most to them.

That is the mission of this Government – to drive opportunity into every region and nation and unearth the country that lies beneath the surface. A country that is proud of its communities, and where geography doesn’t stand in the way of opportunity.

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