Member

I ask the House to consider whose interest this inaction benefits. Ministers agree that the creative sector is precious, they agree that it is being robbed, and they agree that the world is better with music and the arts. Ministers love Kate Bush, Shakespeare and Coldplay, but they are frustrating any attempt to give this generation of artists a tool to defend themselves and to defend the next generation of artists. I am asking one last time for the Government to offer the House and the creative industries a timeline and a vehicle by which they can protect their investments and livelihood. It does not have to be this way. Failing to act denies the UK’s second-biggest sector the effective right to own and control its own property and labour. Denying them that basic human right puts the creative industries on a path of direct conflict with their elected representatives. That is not something I wish to see. I beg to move.