The UK government says national museums in England will remain free for all, ending months of speculation that international visitors could be charged to enter institutions such as the British Museum, Tate and National Museums Liverpool.
The announcement was made on Monday (28 September) by the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), Lisa Nandy, at an event hosted by Art Fund and the think tank the Cultural Policy Unit at Tate Liverpool. Universal free entry to the UK’s 15 national museums, which came into effect on 1 December 2001 will celebrate its 25th anniversary later this year.
“Our museums are the places that light up the world,” Nandy said. “They remind of us our shared history and enable us to step outside the confines of our lives. There is something incredibly special about that. That’s why they must be free, forever, for everyone to access. I’m delighted that we’re continuing that transformative policy pioneered by the last Labour government, opening up access to our excellent museums for generations.”
Alison Cole, the director of the Cultural Policy Unit, which has campaigned for UK museums to remain free for all, said in a statement: “This is one of the landmark cultural policies of our times, one that has established itself as a universal public good.” (Cole was formerly the editor of The Art Newspaper.) Several national museum directors, including Tristram Hunt of the Victoria and Albert Museum and Nicholas Cullinan of the British Museum, also supported the move in a statement.
Gabriele Finaldi, the director of London’s National Gallery, said: “Free entry to national museums is one of the UK’s greatest cultural assets: it enables millions to visit, enjoy and learn. Thanks to free entry our museums are a deeply integral part of national life and free entry to museums is widely admired among our museum peers internationally.”
The DCMS re-ignited the discussions around introducing charges for tourists in its response to a review of Arts Council England (ACE) by the Labour peer Margaret Hodge, who published her recommendations regarding the future of ACE last December.
Some cultural figures are concerned though about the policy. In July 2024 Mark Jones, the former interim director of the British Museum, said that an admission fee of £20 should be introduced for overseas visitors.
How the UK government will continue to fund national museums is open to debate. Earlier this month the UK government’s decision to grant regional mayors in England the power to introduce a “tourist tax” (officially an Overnight Visitor Levy, or OVL) was welcomed by some UK cultural leaders who stress that revenue raised should be ring-fenced for arts and culture.