Figures from across the industry have expressed their frustration following Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ Spring Statement.
Coming on the heels of the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) unveiling its latest economic forecasts, which slashed its economic growth forecast for this year from 2 per cent to 1 per cent, Reeves set out fresh measures to cut the government’s welfare bill.
Delivering the Spring Statement – which is not a formal budget, as Labour pledged to only deliver one per year – in parliament today (March 26), Reeves announced a target that government departments, including the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), reduce their administrative budgets by 15 per cent by the end of the decade.
The chancellor also announced further welfare cuts, having been told reforms announced last week would save less than planned – £3.4bn instead of £5bn. Per Sky News, it’s predicted that cuts to welfare will mean 250,000 more people will be pushed into poverty by 2030.
The health element of Universal Credit will be cut in half for new claimants and then frozen. There will also be a renewed focus on taking action against tax evaders, and an increase in defence spending, with The Ministry of Defence getting an additional £2.2bn next year.
Elsewhere, there were assurances that the cuts announced today would be offset by billions of pounds in long-term investment to grow the economy, with focus on building new homes and supporting higher spending on defence. Reeves said disposable income will “grow this year at almost twice the rate expected in the autumn”, adding that “households will be on average over £500 a year better off under this government”.
Responding to today’s Statement, Music Venue Trust’s (MVT) External Affairs Manager Sophie Brownlee said that while reform to business rates were welcomed, “the gap created by the reduction in rate relief until this rate reform comes into effect has been to create a demand for £7 million in additional premises taxes”.
Brownlee noted this is asked from a sector that last year returned an entire gross profit – across all 810 such venues in the UK – of just £2.5 million. At the NME-supported Venues Day last month celebrating 10 years of the Music Venue Trust, the charity laid out the situation that the gig spaces across the UK face. Many are simply finding themselves “financially unviable”.
“This cut has not been mollified by any further measures in this Spring Statement – such as a cut in VAT on cultural ticketing, a delay to the introduction of National Insurance Contributions (NICs), or strengthened protection from increased development,” she continued, added that this will see more grassroots music venues close, “many in already deprived communities, further jobs lost, and the continuation of undervaluing local culture in the UK”.
Similarly, Michael Kill, CEO on the Nighttime Industries Association – who reported last year that if venues continue to close at the same alarming rate, UK nightclubs will be extinct by 2029 – was “outraged” by the Chancellor’s latest Statement, which was described as a “reckless dereliction of duty that blatantly disregards the night-time economy’s desperate need for support”.
Kill stresses that the government has ignored the mounting evidence of economic devastation in the sector, and has instead doubled down on “disastrous fiscal policies” rather than take decisive action.
Indeed, findings from the MTV last year discovered a “disaster” had hit grassroots music venues as a whole across 2023, with 125 UK venues abandoned live music and over half of them had shut entirely, including the legendary Moles in Bath.
Pressing constraints included soaring energy prices, landlords increasing rate amounts, supply costs, business rates, licensing issues, noise complaints and the continuing shockwaves of COVID-19, the aftermath of which continues to affect independent venues.
“Despite repeated warnings and relentless lobbying to reverse the crippling measures introduced in the Autumn Statement, the Government has chosen inaction, condemning businesses to a bleak and uncertain future,” Kill continued. “Rather than seizing the opportunity to implement critical long-term reforms, this Statement signals yet another nail in the coffin for an industry already pushed to the brink.
“With crushing tax hikes set to take effect in April, the night-time economy now faces a worsening crisis that threatens widespread closures, mass job losses, and economic stagnation. The Chancellor’s failure to introduce meaningful financial relief is not just negligent—it is a direct attack on the viability of an industry that contributes billions to the UK economy.”
After saying the night-time economy is at “breaking point” after enduring years of financial strain, Kill concluded by saying the NTIA demanded “immediate and substantial intervention”, and would not stand by “while our industry is systematically dismantled by political negligence.”
Following the UK Spring Statement earlier today, AIM CEO Gee Davy comments on its impacts for the independent community, particularly regarding the music sector’s exclusion from creative sector tax relief schemes.
See the statement below
pic.twitter.com/5iJPiqomYo
— AIM (@AIM_UK) March 26, 2025
Echoing Kill’s comments, Gee Davy, CEO of the Association of Independent Music (AIM), said the industry at large understood the need to drive growth and balance books, but proposed employment schemes and living wage increases would not work if music businesses are unable to trade.
“Creative sectors have a uniquely important part to play in fostering hope, opportunity and national wellbeing during challenging times, but there is an urgent need for targeted support for music,” Davy added.
“Increased labour, export, and touring costs, business rates, and the effects on consumer spend are having a disproportionate impact on the grassroots and on independent music businesses, workers and artists; yet music creation has been excluded from creative sector tax reliefs schemes which have been so successful for areas such as British film and TV.
“This government has the opportunity to fix that omission and help the music sector help itself, incentivising internal and external investment in new music, with benefits to be reaped across the sector. This represents a no-cost policy that aligns with the government’s defining mission to create growth and opportunity.”
Only yesterday, Reeves came under fire accepting free tickets to a Sabrina Carpenter concert. The Chancellor confirmed that she would declare the value of them after other members of the Labour Party were similarly criticised recently for accepting donations.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer recently paid back over £6,000 worth of his own gifts and hospitality, including six Taylor Swift tickets worth £2,800, in line with parliamentary rules.