Slashing English National Opera’s funding is cultural vandalism

Emma Bell performing in Wagner’s The Valkyrie at the Coliseum in London earlier this year. Photograph: Tristram Kenton/The Guardian

We should welcome more funding and greater access to the arts across the country, but not at any price (ENO to relocate as arts funding diverted away from London, 4 November).

Arts Council England’s decision to withdraw funding from English National Opera almost certainly means the end of the company, and it will not provide greater access to opera for more people. The result will be levelling down rather than levelling up. ENO currently serves a catchment area way beyond the capital and is an attraction for visitors from all over the UK and overseas. The ending of almost full-time opera at the Coliseum means that the public will have less access to it.