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Last week two seemingly disparate events occured which should be sending shockwaves through the hallowed halls of those who are in positions of power. A small group of hauliers, farmers and taxi-drivers nearly brought Britain to a standstill and shook Tony Blair's government to its very foundations, and Welsh Arts Council chief executive Jo Weston resigned. It hardly seems possible that the two can be related, but they are, for they are both manifestations of the power that the ordinary people of Britain can wield when they are determined enough. In Britain we pay more for petrol than people in the USA or any country in Europe, and the reason is simple - tax. In fact, the government takes three times more than the fuel companies. It was for this reason that the majority of people in Britain supported the protestors who had closed the distribution depts, even though they were suffering the results. It is very reminiscent of the Poll Tax protests which took place under the previous government, and just as the Tories caved in under the pressure from the people of Britain and the hated Poll Tax was removed, so it is more than likely that in the weeks or months to come that the present government will reduce the tax on petrol. Anyone who doubts this should consider the fact that, in all likelihood, Britain will go to the polls next Spring, and no government will want to face an election with this kind of feeling opposing them. In fact, I suspect that we will see a reduction in fuel tax before Christmas, with the government hoping that the electorate will have forgotten all about the furore by polling day. In fact, Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown has just said that the time for such decisions is the November Budget (hint! hint!) In the case of ACW's Jo Weston, the organisation has so badly misjudged the mood of the arts community in Wales and has acted with such arrogance that its position and that of Weston as become almost untenable. Hence the proposals from the Assembly's Post-16 committee and Weston's resignation. In fact, the Arts Council of England had its own experience of these kinds of forces at work. In 1997, this site carried five feature articles which were intensely critical of ACE. There were three in 1998, one last year and none so far in 2000. Why? Have I stopped writing critical pieces because I have become softer? No. It's because ACE has changed radically, become more responsive and in touch with the realisty of the arts world, and that change was forced upon it by pressure from the English arts community. Of course ACE is far from perfect, and we can be sure that ACW never will be. And we can be very sure that we will always have to pay a hefty tax on fuel, but we have made progress, had an effect. There are times when we feel that we are confronting some immovable monolith, whether arts organisation or government department, but in the end, if people feel strongly enough, the monolith will give way. We should take heart from the petrol blockade and from Jo Weston's resignation: they are signs that, when a constituency of people decide they have had enough, they can exert sufficient pressure to make the arrogant take notice; they can, in fact, rein in that arrogance. ACW has had to backtrack and Jo Weston has had to resign. The government will reduce fuel tax. We should be celebrating! |
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Sunday, September 17, 2000 |
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