SNP moots £4.5m rescue plan for Edinburgh’s King’s Theatre

Scottish National Party (SNP) members of City of Edinburgh Council have proposed a £4.5m rescue package for King’s Theatre in an attempt to save the venue from closure.

Although the SNP has the most seats (19) on the Edinburgh Council, the local authority is currently run by Labour – which has 13 seats – after the party struck a deal and got the backing of Conservative and Liberal Democrat members of the council to lead a minority administration.

SNP councillors are pushing for their alternative budget proposals to be voted through at a meeting of the council on 24 February. Under its plans, the council would give £4.5m to the theatre, with the hope the commitment would lead to further support from the Scottish and UK Governments, national arts funding bodies or private donations.

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Last month, King’s Theatre went public with an urgent plea for financial support, stating it faces closure within 35 days unless it can raise £9m for long-awaited refurbishment work.

Speaking to The National, SNP councillor Amy McNeese-Mechan said: “We simply can’t allow this Edinburgh institution to collapse”.

Councillor Lesley Macinnes added: “We’ve worked hard to make sure that we have a costed and affordable plan for this.

“The SNP Group have worked this into our budget proposals which will be announced later in the month and we’re calling on all other parties to do the same.”

The theatre announced it was at risk of closure after Edinburgh City Council missed out on levelling up funding from the UK Government.

The Scottish Government, which is led by the SNP, is yet to announce whether it will deliver emergency funds to the venue, but several Members of Scottish Parliament (MSPs) have made calls for the theatre to be saved.

After visting the venue, Conservative MSP for Lothian Region Sue Webber wrote to Scotland’s Culture Secretary Angus Robertson calling for urgent investment.

“My inbox has been inundated with rightly concerned residents from Edinburgh and beyond that are concerned for the future of The King’s Theatre,” her letter reads.

“As soon as the funding source is confirmed [the theatre] will be able to immediately start work on the upgrade programme and the city would reap the benefits of a fully re-opened King’s Theatre in just two years.”

In December, the Scottish Government cut its budget for arts and culture organisations by 10%, which Robertson has since defended by pointing to the reserves held by funding body Creative Scotland.

Reacting to the news SNP’s councillors are pledging financial support, Scotland’s only Labour MP, Edinburgh South’s Ian Murray, called on the Scottish Government to follow suit.

“The Scottish Government is decimating council funding again and are now demanding the council puts more money in,” he tweeted.

“Do they take responsibility for anything? It’s the Culture Secretary’s own patch. Maybe he has another budget he could take a bit of money from to save Kings”.