The Government Must Do More – Help Us Make the Case

In Prime Minister’s Questions yesterday Boris Johnson refused to commit to extending the income replacement schemes, arguing that the priority was now on getting people back to work. We have consistently argued that ‘getting back to work’ is not yet possible for a lot of musicians and although a lot of MPs are backing us on this, Ministers are yet to budge. We have also made the point on multiple occasions that 38% of musicians were never eligible for the schemes in the first place. Again, this is an argument that a lot of MPs have taken up on our behalf, but it has met with silence from the Government.

Please do fill out our new survey as soon as you can and pass it on to other musicians in your networks. We are hoping to get some up to date statistics in the next week so that we can go back to Government with definitive proof that musicians are still disproportionately affected by the pandemic and that further financial assistance is vital. At that stage we will also be asking for your support to highlight the statistics to all MPs, so please continue to keep an eye on the coronavirus emails.

Alongside this, MU officials are heavily involved in all planning for the return of live gigs and theatre and we have been assisting with trials and participating in all of the relevant working groups. But we will not accept a promise of an eventual return to normality as an excuse for ignoring the plight of musicians in the short term.

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