PCS: ‘Cameron and Clegg’ feel the love on Valentine’s Day
Members of the Public and Commercial Services union will stage a Valentine’s Day ‘love-in’ tomorrow (14) to highlight a campaign to save the nation’s cultural assets from spending cuts.
Two union members dressed as David Cameron and Nick Clegg will share a bed in Trafalgar Square in London and members of the public will be asked to fill in postcards saying why they love public services.
Under the banner of ‘Don’t go breaking my art’, the event – to be held between 10am and 1pm – forms part of the union’s Save our Cultural Assets campaign as well as its Love Public Services campaign for the month of February.
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport’s overall budget has been cut by 25%, meaning a drastic reduction in support for cultural bodies, and job cuts will leave the department with the smallest presence in government of any western European country.
For every £1 the government spends on culture, the UK economy gets back £2 and the British film industry alone contributes £1.2 billion a year to the exchequer. The UK has five of the 20 most visited art galleries in the world.
As well as campaigning to save these cultural assets, the union is organising events across the UK during February to highlight the value people place on their public services.
PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka said: “Like other public services that people hold dear, our nation’s cultural heritage is under threat from the biggest spending cuts in living memory.
“We believe there is an alternative to these cuts and that the government should be investing in our public services to help our economy to grow and ensure art and culture does not once again become the preserve of a privileged elite.”
ENDS
Notes
– For information and interview requests contact PCS national press officer Richard Simcox on 020 7801 2747 or 07833 978216
– The Public and Commercial Services union represents civil and public servants in central government. It has more than 300,000 members in over 200 departments and agencies, and in parts of government transferred to the private sector. PCS is the UK’s sixth largest union and is affiliated to the TUC. The general secretary is Mark Serwotka and the president is Janice Godrich
– Follow PCS on Twitter
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