© House of Lords Photography Roger Harris

Watch this talk on YouTube: recording link 157

In fact, in her December 2025 Review, Margaret recommends a radical overhaul of the Arts Council.  Target?  To reduce bureaucracy and rigorously protect artistic freedom from political interference. 

She says the government can and must find innovative ways of responding to the underfunding that has undermined the arts over the last decade. 

Key proposals include devolving funding decisions to regional levels, extending National Portfolio Organisation funding cycles to five years, and strengthening the arm’s-length principle. 

Margaret spent 20 years in local government, 30 years as a Member of Parliament and now sits in the House of Lords. She’s a Professor of Practice at Kings College London.  She’s on the boards of several research bodies and think tanks.  And no prizes for guessing who, back in the day, chaired Joan Littlewood’s renowned theatre Stratford East.