Speeches by Bryant.

“I am not aware of pitches for an improvement to it. We and the Treasury review all the tax credits every year. The most important thing that we have done since coming into Government is saying that all these tax credits are staying put, but if people have suggestions on how we should improve them, we are happy to liste…”

“One of my direct interventions into this whole process was to refer to the British art market as well, because I have been concerned following Brexit that there would be a danger that we would lose our position to France. Actually, the British art market does more business than all the other art markets in Europe combi…”

“On top of that, we managed to find £75 million this year for capital investment for museums and galleries that are run by local authorities around the country, which was an important part of the pitch that we made to Treasury for the first spending review. Now we have to think about what we do for the next three years …”

“If you think about the museums and galleries that we run on behalf of the UK—and they are arm’s length bodies—they absorb a large chunk of our funding. They had a good settlement this last year: it was roughly 5% above inflation and we have been privately congratulated by all of them.”

“By “visual arts”, you mean painting and—”

“There are tax reliefs for orchestras, for touring and so on, and for galleries, so it is a wider set. Of course, many actors move between theatre, cinema and television, so I would argue that it is much more cross-sector.”

“The first thing we needed to do was get an agreement out of the European Union-UK summit, which we did, which was that we were to take forward further work on this. One of the issues for us is that we are the people who want this to happen. I think it is in the interests of every other country in Europe to enable prope…”

“There has been an issue about whether they are getting paid swiftly enough, but we are already looking at that. That is just an administrative element, rather than a policy.”

“Of course, but who are the creators in the film and TV industry? They are actors, designers, writers, hair and make-up, cinematographers—they are an enormously wide group of people. Some of them are freelancers. Those are some of the things that we want to take forward with the freelance champion. We will be looking at…”

“People have not said that back to me. I would be interested to hear what interventions they would like to see in their sector. On publishing, for instance, I have met with the Publishers Association several times. I went to the London book fair and I have listened to its concerns, but those are mostly around IP and cop…”

“All of this happened before elements of the spending review could be unpacked. One of the most successful things that we have been able to do this time in the spending review is not only having a three-year spending review, which makes it much easier for people to be able to make longer-term decisions, but the fact tha…”

“Honestly, I was pleasantly surprised at the feedback that we have had on the back of the plan. I hosted an online call for the best part of 70 or 80 people. It was overwhelmingly positive, because we had managed to nail the two things I have already referred to that previous plans had not been able to delve into or had…”

“Quite a chunk of that work has already happened. I should pay tribute to Shriti Vadera and Baz, who were essential to making all of this happen and delivering it in the way that they did. I think Shriti brought a particular understanding of how capitalism delivers its objectives. This is the first time that we have man…”

“That has already existed.”

“This is God’s own country and I am a mere servant.”

“Bearing in mind what you said last week, Dame Caroline, I think it is about time that we celebrated the creative industries. This is not just a brief encounter; for many people it is a matter of life and death, and in the end there is hunger for change. I hope that by the matter of persuasion, you will accept that we a…”

“In a sense, I have answered that. People have raised these concerns with me; I had a meeting yesterday morning with people from Hilton, and they are concerned. They are equally concerned, incidentally, about another pebble in the pond at the moment, which is that the pound is now so expensive compared to the dollar tha…”

“I will address the first half of that, and then the second half. Yes, I fully accept that there are real challenges for the whole hospitality sector in the UK and, by definition, therefore the visitor economy. I am still hopeful that we will have a larger number of people this year than last year coming to the UK from …”

“It is enabling a marketplace, in essence, and sometimes local government provides the space where the market can take place. Sometimes it owns the market and sometimes it allows the market to be run on an entirely commercial basis. The stock exchange, of course, is a business. We have not decided, but part of what is g…”

“We have been giving £1 million for the last few years, and we have not made a firm commitment yet about what we will end up doing.”