Reacting to today’s Autumn Budget Statement, SOLT & UK Theatre Co-CEO Hannah Essex said:
“We recognise that the Government has had to make difficult decisions in a tough fiscal climate and must prioritise bringing down costs. Nevertheless, today’s Budget is a missed opportunity to back theatre’s power to drive growth in every postcode by creating skilled jobs and ensuring everyone has access to culture on their doorstep.
“Audiences continue to demand brilliant theatre: SOLT & UK Theatre venues welcomed more than 37 million people in 2025. Yet domestic touring activity has fallen by 24% since 2019, with touring plays and drama falling by 64%. Freight, travel, accommodation, and transfer labour are increasingly determining whether theatre reaches another town or misses it altogether.
“The sector united in putting forward three targeted, practical reforms: make touring-specific operating costs eligible for Theatre Tax Relief; make the touring thresholds work for large-scale opera and ballet; and extend business rates relief to theatres and other live performance venues in England. Together, these measures would help keep theatre on the road and deliver more performances, more weeks of work for skilled professionals, more spending in local businesses and high streets, and more opportunities for communities across the UK to share in the very best of British theatre.
“Without action, tours will become shorter and access to live performance will depend increasingly on where people live. Ahead of the Comprehensive Spending Review, we hope the Chancellor will listen carefully to the sector and work with us on practical reforms that will help more productions reach more communities and enable theatre to make a greater contribution to the Government’s growth agenda as set out in the industrial strategy.”
Share: