There ought to be no resting on laurels

Chris Smith MP

The Treasury is currently involved in its spending review, deciding the amount of money destined for the arts.

Mr Smith believes the time is right to pile on the pressure in the hope of securing extra funding.

The former culture secretary lost his job to Tessa Jowell in the last cabinet reshuffle, after Labour's last general election victory.

But his legacy was a 60% rise in arts funding from central government.

The MP is now concerned that arts funding will not fare so well in future budgets if lobbyists do not act.

'Shouting'

"There ought to be no resting on laurels," he wrote.

"We should not imagine, or let anyone in the Treasury imagine, that all problems have been solved.

Smith believes arts groups should speak out to help themselves

"We should always be shouting from the rooftops about what the arts can give us, what they mean to us and how they can move us."

He believes that with the effects of foot-and-mouth and the atrocities of 11 September the DCMS will have to fight its corner hard to secure money.

And he wants to encourage all sectors of the arts world to become more vocal about their funding needs.

'Incompetent'

"If no-one from the world of the arts is saying anything about what has happened, what has been achieved with the extra funding, but what also still needs to be done, then the case will go by default," he added.

NCA is an independent lobbying organisation representing all the arts, funded entirely by its members.

It worked closely with Mr Smith during his term of office to ensure the arts were not ignored.

Meanwhile, in Scotland a delay in a decision over arts funding by the Scottish Executive has led Scottish National Party Shadow Culture Minister Mr Michael Russell to question its commitment to the arts.

He has accused the Scottish Executive of "a careless and incompetent approach to Scottish culture, an approach that is continuing to damage our precious national cultural assets".