National Museums Liverpool have benefited from the free admissions policy. © World Museum Liverpool

The Museums Libraries and Archives council have responded to reports in the weekend media alleging the Conservative Party may scrap free admissions to museums with a robust defence of the policy.

Conservative Party culture spokesman Hugo Swire said museums should be allowed to charge. In an interview published in the Mail on Sunday on June 17 he said: “We do not want to ban free admissions, but we believe museums and galleries should have the right to charge if they wish to.”

Mr Swire argued that museums could use the money to make their facilities even better and could even have special arrangements allowing continued free access for children, students and others.

His comments have resulted in a flurry of articles defending free museum admissions, with everyone from Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell to Tate Director Nicolas Serota joining the fray in support of free admissions to the UK's National museums. The Independent today gave over its front page to a spirited defence of the policy.

Visitor numbers have soared at the museums benefitting from free entry, which MLA says is a 'no-brainer'. © Natural History Museum

In a statement released on June 18, 2007, the MLA said that it was ‘excited’ that the issue of access to museums has been championed by the media and that it was grateful for the continued government support for free access to national and university museums and galleries. It also welcomed the ‘broad political consensus’ to continued free entry.

“We should never forget that museums are a vital foundation of British life,” said Hedley Swain, Head of Museum Policy at MLA. “It’s an absolute no-brainer that as many people as is possible should have free access to our wonderful public collections. The challenge for us is to find greater and more innovative ways to maximise access to the nation’s treasures.”

Although Conservative Central Office has since moved to soften the words of its culture spokesman – prompting accusations from Labour of a Tory U-Turn – the policy is still under review. The opposition party have set up an independent committee under the chairmanship of Sir John Tusa to investigate funding in the arts.

Sir John is due to be appointed by the government as the new director of the V&A and is a vocal critic of the New Labour’s policy for the arts.

National Railway Museum in York. © NRM

Free museum admission was introduced by the government in 2001 and since then figures show that visitor figures are up, nationally and regionally.

According to MLA, regional museums welcomed over 13 million people in 2005/06, with almost a million new visits from communities identified as hard-to-reach. Ethnic minority attendance grew by 18 per cent from 2002/03 to 2005/06.

Overall, 16.8 million adults, (42 per cent of the adult population in England), visited one of the UK’s museums at least once in 2006/07. Almost half of those visitors are aged 25-44.

“The universal support for free access sets the foundations for the future,” said the MLA statement. “MLA Council wants as many people as possible to benefit from the country’s museums.”

Sir Nicholas Serota, Director of Tate, has backed his gallery's policy of free admissions. The Thameside gallery is now reckoned to be one of the most popular in the world. Picture courtesy Tate

The MLA’s Renaissance In The Regions programme has also seen a £150 million investment in regional museums in recent years. MLA say the programme has changed the way museums engage with the public and that museum visits by children and their schools increased by nearly 19 per cent over the last three years.

In the meantime the current government remains fully committed to the policy of free admissions. A Green Paper is due shortly that is expected to seek to increase the productivity of the cultural sector further, and a commitment to free opening is expected to underpin the document.

“Research shows that those visiting museums as children are more likely to return as adults,” added Hedley Swain. “Museums play a vital part in keeping us in touch with our culture, our heritage and our past. Not only are they educational, they’re also places of great fun and discovery.”