Lisa Nandy: Tories’ ‘violent indifference’ to the arts damaged access to culture

Nandy said the starkest example was in the school curriculum, with Tory ministers labelling arts subjects ‘Mickey Mouse’ and ‘erasing’ them from the classroom. Photograph: Temilade Adelaja/Reuters

The Conservatives’ “violent indifference” to the arts has resulted in communities across the country getting poor access to culture, Lisa Nandy has said ahead of a planned funding review.

The culture secretary accused her Tory predecessors of “vandalism” as she pledged to get state funding to every community and make sure that private philanthropy reached beyond the major cities.