Election asks 2024 for the UK elections, now confirmed to be on 4 July.
The Prime Minister has called a General Election, which will take place on Thursday 4 July 2024. You can find out more about the election, including what constituency you are in on the BBC News website.
The period running up to an election is an ideal time to speak to future decision-makers about your music group, and what you need to flourish. Candidates will be in your community, listening to voters about what is important to them. Be prepared to make the case for what you want your representatives to do for you and your music group if they are in the position to make a difference.
Making Music has put together two key asks on behalf of our members that you could talk about or pass on to election candidates. These are asks that have come from members, that we know will make a big difference to leisure time music, and that decision-makers at local and government level can do something about. Use them if relevant in your area, adapt them as necessary.
They come in two versions - a PDF you can use to print flyers and posters, and a PNG image to include in social media posts and newsletters.
DOWNLOAD PRINTABLE FLYER (PDF)
Election asks
Making Music is the UK’s membership organisation for leisure-time music with around 4,000 member groups, representing over 230,000 music-makers across the UK. We ask candidates for election in 2024 to speak up for leisure-time music-makers in their constituencies on these issues:
#MakeSpaceForMusic
Leisure-time music groups positively impact the health and prosperity of their communities. To do this, we need affordable and accessible community spaces. But it is now harder for us to find spaces to sing and play music. High utility costs, local authority budget constraints, church closures and heavier regulation are factors threatening the spaces we use for learning, creating and rehearsing. We ask that our representatives take action to protect the existing infrastructure of community spaces that enable a huge and successful music making culture across the UK.
For more information on this campaign, including data, a briefing and downloadable fliers - check out our campaign page.
Add 'voice' to Orchestra Tax Relief
Our members benefit from creative tax reliefs for orchestras and theatre. Last year over £400,000 of Orchestra Tax Relief was paid out to members, and we welcome the recently announced permanent 45% rate. However, choirs and vocal groups are not eligible to claim and don’t benefit from this investment in their growth and development. We ask that HMRC extends the eligibility criteria for Orchestra Tax Relief to include 'voice' as an instrument, so choirs can claim this existing benefit.
For more information on this campaign, including a proposal signed by over 35 supporting organisations - check out our campaign page.
Open Letter to Party Leaders
We wrote to all party leaders on 14 June to share our Election Asks. You can read our open letter here, and pass it on to any of your own contacts. This letter was also published on our social media accounts for you to share.
What are parties promising for leisure-time music?
Most parties have now published their manifestos, the document that sets out the policies they would deliver if they won the general election. We’ve read through them and extracted pledges that would directly impact on leisure-time music making; pledges on arts and culture, community leisure activity, arts and health and music education. Read the extracted pledges and find links to all the manifestos below.
