I grew up in a council flat in Batley, West Yorkshire, on free school meals. I was the first in my family to go to university and the first to forge a career in the arts. As a result, I know the power of access and the dispiriting effect of exclusion.
Sadly, the Conservative government doesn’t seem to agree. Access to the arts and the creative industries has been closed off at every level, including in schools, and as a consequence people are being systematically excluded from one of the great industries of the future.
When I came into politics as MP for Batley and Spen I already knew the difference politics could make. When I became mayor of West Yorkshire in 2021 it was partly because I believed that I could make that difference in a real and practical way.
Local authorities up and down the country have felt the financial squeeze over the last 14 years, and creative industries have paid a high price. As the trend of councils looking to arts funding to make savings continues we face a future of cultural deprivation, but I have a different vision for West Yorkshire. My aim is to make it a region of learning and creativity, a place where everyone has access to the arts and the creative industries both as consumers and creators. And that’s what I will do if I’m re-elected on 2 May.
This is not just about getting a few more people into theatres and concert halls, although everyone would benefit from that, and widening access to the arts at all levels is certainly part of what I want to do; it’s also about supporting the development of skills needed to succeed in the creative industries, crucial for building the wider workforce of the future.
I’m developing West Yorkshire as a “creative crucible” to increase our share of a £108bn a year industry that employs 2.3 million people in the UK.
As an actor and screenwriter myself, I know this is about accessing skilled jobs just as much as it is about access to culture itself. The best schools in the country offer great creative subjects because they help students develop the soft skills like confidence, articulacy and creative problem solving that is highly valued in the workplace.
Scientists, AI developers, transport planners, green engineers, paramedics and more will all need creative problem-solving skills to meet the new challenges we face. We need to be able to position West Yorkshire as a place to do business, a place global investors want to come to because they know they can access the best and brightest talent in the country.
The world is changing fast, and we need a workforce that can change with it. That means having a much better approach to lifelong learning. People need good basic English and maths, as well as the more specialised skills that will transform West Yorkshire. To make it accessible, we’ll develop a modular learning approach that not only works for individuals, but for businesses, colleges and universities as well.
I want everyone to have access to culture and sport, and to have the opportunity to pursue a career in those areas, too, if they wish. So I have already invested £1.7m in upskilling our workforce to access this growing £2bn sector in West Yorkshire. The creative industries in our region are booming. As a result of interventions like our creative new deal, job growth in the culture, heritage and sports sector grew by 17% from 2022 to 2023 – almost three times the national average.
However, employers often tell me that there’s a shortage of the soft skills they need to do well in the workplace. But those skills are transferable and already exist in the creative industries. My plan will help people communicate ideas with confidence, solve problems with skill and creativity and build resilience.
But of course this vision of a region of learning and creativity is not just for adults. It has to start with children. So I want children to have the best possible start and this means parents being able to have good and affordable childcare. Part of achieving this is increasing the number of qualified early years staff, which I will make possible by investing in their training.
There is so much more we can do. The decline of libraries excludes children from all kinds of experiences and ideas, so I will work toward all primaries in West Yorkshire having a library, and there’ll be a new book fund for local libraries where councils are struggling due to the government’s funding cuts.
Investment in the creative industries will expand the West Yorkshire economy, but we need to retain the talent we foster. That will mean having a careers service that supports people to make the right choices, as well as good, affordable housing that meets high environmental standards.
People also need a transport network fit for the 21st century, so we have worked at breakneck speed to bring buses back into public control. I’ll extend the £2 capped mayor’s fare until 2025. And we’ll get spades in the ground by 2028 for the game-changing mass transit network to connect all parts of West Yorkshire.
Success will mean focusing on creating jobs and opportunities for our skilled workforce to succeed in, and as mayor, I’ve already helped businesses to grow, secured investment from trade links abroad, and championed the brilliance of our fast growing digital and health sectors. If I am re-elected, there will be lots more to come.
I was one of the lucky ones. I fulfilled my early aspirations, and now it’s my turn to pay back. I want that young girl growing up today in Batley, Bradford or Beeston, or the man in his mid-forties in Horbury or Hebden Bridge desperate for a better paid job, to be able to do what I did. I know we can make that possible.
