Lucy Fraser, the MP who hit the headlines when she made a controversial joke about slavery, has been promoted to culture secretary by Prime Minister Rishi Shankar.
The South East Cambridgeshire MP made a joke about sending it to the House of Commons in 2015. Scottish people as slaves in the coloniesa video of which surfaced in 2020 in the context of Black Lives Matter after discussions about Britain’s role in the slave trade.
“[Cambridgeshire] Home of Oliver Cromwell, who defeated the Scots at Dunbar, annexed Scotland to his Protectorate and transported the Scots to the colonies as slaves,” he said at the time. “The West Lothian question is now answered. Yes – but not one I would certainly recommend.”
West Lothian questions whether MPs from Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland should be able to vote on matters that only affect England.
Now, Frazer has been promoted by Rishi Sink through a mini-cabinet reshuffle. He has created four new departments – Energy, Security and Net Zero, with Grant Shops, Business and Trade headed by Cammy Bedinock, while former Culture Secretary Michelle Donnellan becomes Science, Innovation and Technology Secretary. Fraser, meanwhile, will lead a revamped culture, media and sports department.
She is the fifth Tory politician to become culture secretary in just eight months, and the 15th overall in the past 12 years of Conservative Party government.
In his new position, Fraser faces continued pressure to address issues related to Brexit’s impact on the touring music industry, the potential overreach of streaming companies, and ongoing threats to grassroots music venues. Sunbird Records in Darwen and Ironworks in Inverness both closed permanently in the past few days, and the Music Venue Trust estimates that one grassroots venue is currently closing every week in the UK.
MVT appeared in the Houses of Parliament last week with patron Frank Turner. 2022 Annual Report, Which underlines the sector’s value to both the UK economy and the music industry, as well as the serious threat UK venues face without urgent action.
MVT called on the eight proposed new arenas to be built in the country to “contribute to the preservation of the wider music ecosystem by investing a percentage of the tickets they sell into the grassroots music ecosystem”, or else it Opening will not be allowed. .
NME We reached out to these venues for a response, and had responses from Co-Op Live in Manchester, the YTL Arena in Bristol and Sunderland City Council. You can read their answers here.
A number of grassroots venues across the country have spoken recently. NME About the “perfect storm” faced by music fans due to life crises, Brexit, canceled shows and last-minute decisions.
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