The comments made by Jo Stevens, the Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, on 5 October 2020.
This is devastating news for Cineworld workers and cinema goers, and will have a knock on impact on towns and city centres.
The cinema industry was viable before the crisis and will be afterwards, when the film industry recovers. The failure of Ministers to recognise the value of shut-down businesses, which now includes many cinemas, means they are consigning thousands of workers to the scrap heap.
The comments made by Jo Stevens, the Shadow Culture Secretary, on 24 September 2020.
Labour shares the Committee’s concerns about the perilous state of the cultural sector – a sector that has made every effort to adapt and find new ways of working.
The snail’s pace of processing applications for funding is not good enough and as we’ve consistently said the Chancellor needs to provide targeted support for struggling sectors.
Culture is a key part of our national identity as well as an economic success story. Although it is temporarily unable to make any money during the pandemic, it could boom again with the right support at the right time.
The comments made by Jo Stevens, the Shadow Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, on 21 August 2020.
The government is claiming that this long overdue money will save the UK’s much-loved live music venues, but this is merely a short-term fix.
This announcement represents 0.2% of the Cultural Recovery Fund, a tiny percentage.
And there is still nothing from the government for the thousands of freelancers who make up the vast majority of those who perform at these cherished venues.
The comments made by Jo Stevens, the Shadow Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, on 11 August 2020.
Labour believes that technology has already changed lives for the better, but it also provides a space where disinformation, hate speech and other online harms have been allowed to flourish.
This is something that should worry all of us. The corrosive effect of this harm does not stop when we put down our phones, it has a significant impact on our everyday lives.
There are also growing signs that too much power is being concentrated in the hands of unaccountable tech companies whose decisions increasingly affect our rights, freedoms, and the political system itself.
We can and must demand more from the tech we use and build a digital future that is safer, fairer and more inclusive. We are asking people to take part in our consultation and help us make that happen.
Comments made by Jo Stevens, the Shadow Culture Secretary, on 29 July 2020.
This is a devastating blow for all those who work to connect the public with our cultural heritage.
The Government has finally given some details around its funding package for the cultural sector – more than three weeks after it was first announced.
This announcement from the National Trust highlights how vital it is for the money to make it to where it’s needed as quickly as possible to prevent further job cuts – we know that once these jobs are lost it will be hard to get them back.
Comments made by Jo Stevens, the Shadow Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Secretary, on 28 July 2020.
Twitter’s decision to act quickly to block Donald Trump Junior’s account shows that the platform can take action when it wants to.
It is entirely right that Twitter has acted swiftly on this occasion to avoid the spread of dangerous misinformation about coronavirus but this doesn’t take away from the fact that these platforms have been extremely slow and lacking in action in tackling other online harms.
Text of the comments made by Jo Stevens, the Shadow Culture Secretary, on 29 July 2020.
While our world-beating creative industries have been clear about the crisis that is overwhelming them, the Government’s focus has been on creating commissions and taskforces rather than getting money to where it’s urgently needed.
Theatres, music venues and other organisations have been desperately waiting for nearly four weeks to hear if they are eligible to apply for the £1.57bn but this announcement still leaves many in the dark.
It’s welcome that the Government has finally taken steps to address the issue of insurance to help get TV and film production up and running, but there are still questions about the detail.
The missing piece in the jigsaw remains freelancers – some of whom have not had a penny from the Government. We’re four months on from the start of the crisis, we need to know when this money will actually get to the frontline.
Text of the comments made by Jo Stevens, the Shadow Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, on 26 July 2020.
The failure to tackle these high-profile examples of hate speech shows why we so desperately need proper legislation to force the social media companies to keep people safe online.
Social media companies have had repeated opportunities to show they can police their sites effectively. But when high profile individuals are allowed to keep their platforms after spreading vile anti-Semitic abuse – and then doubling down when challenged – it’s clear that self-regulation isn’t working.
The government promised this bill more than a year ago – it’s high time they showed they take the safety of those who use the internet as seriously as the needs and influence of the big tech firms.
The text of the comments made by Jo Stevens, the Shadow Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Secretary, on 21 July 2020.
The pandemic has reinforced just how dangerous misinformation can be – with serious consequences for people’s health. But despite consecutive Conservative governments knowing about the problem of misinformation for years, this report lays bare that once again the Government has been slow to act.
It has been more than 15 months since the promised online harms legislation and the select committee shares our concerns that this long overdue legislation puts safeguarding profits of the big tech platforms before public safety.
The text of the comments made by Jo Stevens, the Shadow Culture Secretary, on 15 July 2020.
The huge increase in job cuts is a worrying sign of the pressures the corporation is under.
Although some of these cuts have are caused by the Covid-19 pandemic affecting production, the root cause remains the government’s decision to slash BBC funding. We’ve seen £800 million lost so far in this charter period, not to mention the Tories’ broken promise on the over-75s’ free tv licence, where the cost of £250 million was passed to the BBC.
Ministers need to take responsibility and stop hiding behind the BBC management – they caused these cuts, they should stand up and be counted.