Andrew Lloyd Webber: I Will Vote For The Party That Prioritises Music in Schools

Andrew Lloyd Webber has said he will vote for whichever political party makes music in schools a priority.

Lord Lloyd Webber was speaking on BBC Politics East about the national plan for music education, which promises at least one hour of classroom music teaching for years 1 to 9.

"The government’s plan is all very well, a nice thing to read on paper, but if it is not actually funded then nothing can happen. And it is not funded, it is a series of bits and pieces... but it has not actually done anything." he said.

"Whoever actually does take it on, the idea of music in schools, will find it is an enormous vote winner...and I will support whichever party embraces music in schools," he said.

He said he had not received a reply to a letter about the subject that he had written to the Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and that he would vote for the political party that backs the plan.

Lloyd Webber also expressed concern at local funding cuts to the arts.

"What theatre brings in to a town is extraordinary. If you cut the grants to those sorts of theatres you are also cutting a load of potential business in the towns themselves, there is a whole ecosystem around theatres – it’s the restaurants, the local laundry even. It is an extraordinary thing that theatre has tentacles that reach out everywhere," he said.

"Any arts cut of that kind is extremely short sighted and it tends to mean city centres become even emptier than they are now. It makes one despair."

Photo Credit: Michael Becker / FOX