Article: Channel 4 is leading the way on Levelling Up
Below is an article I authored with fellow MPs Andy Carter and Karen Bradley. It appeared in The Times on 16 December.
Everyone across the political spectrum agrees with the principle of levelling up. The debate is how to define it, measure progress and judge success.
When the term is used in parliament or in the media, it is often associated with geography — but for us as Conservatives, levelling up is as much about people as places. It’s about spreading opportunity to all parts of the UK and all parts of society, so that a young girl growing up in a working-class home in Liverpool has as much opportunity to get ahead as a young boy born to privileged parents in London.
It’s about making sure that young people can choose a career based on their ability not their background — and that their hard work will pay off without needing a leg-up the ladder from a well-connected relative.
Many organisations could take a leaf out of Channel 4’s book. The broadcaster is leading on levelling up the creative sector — an industry long seen as London-centric — and is, by any objective measure, a very British success story.
Recently, Channel 4 announced a huge expansion of its skills and training programme. From next year the broadcaster will create 15,000 opportunities for young people either considering careers in broadcasting for the first time or looking to progress their existing careers.
Specifically, it will focus on helping young people from disadvantaged backgrounds in some of the least well- off parts of the country to get access to paid-for training and experience that’s critical to enter the creative industries.
It’s not just entry level jobs that Channel 4 is levelling up. With the recent opening of its national HQ in Leeds, alongside bases in Manchester, Glasgow and Bristol, the broadcaster is also sending a powerful message: you don’t need to move to London to work in TV. This is important for our constituents, but it has an economic impact too.
Because Channel 4 commissions all of its content from external production companies — most of them SMEs outside London — a creative ecosystem is already developing around its regional offices, creating opportunities for people living in towns and villages for miles around.
Levelling up the creative sector is vital not just to provide opportunity, but to ensure balance. Broadcasters have the privilege of reaching into our homes and our lives but with that comes a responsibility to accurately reflect the range of voices and rich diversity of British life. That can only happen if the people working in these organisations come from a wide range of backgrounds and represent a really broad range of views.
That’s why what Channel 4 is doing now is so important. The 18-year-old from a small town being offered a placement today on
Hollyoaks or with one of the 300 independent production companies that Channel 4 works with – and who never thought a job in TV was possible – could become the TV commissioner, even the chief executive, of a UK broadcaster deciding what we watch in the future.
The young people of today will help to define and celebrate the Britishness of tomorrow.
Channel 4 is not alone in accelerating plans to make the creative sector work for everyone. But for Conservatives, Channel 4’s enthusiasm for levelling up is especially significant. When Margaret Thatcher established Channel 4 almost 40 years ago with a clear remit to give a voice to the under-represented, the model she designed meant it wouldn’t need to take any money from the taxpayer.
She enabled it to harness the power of the market to provide a valued public service. It was then — and is now — a thoroughly Conservative idea and it’s heartening to see it delivering national priorities with gusto.
It’s precisely because Channel 4 is publicly owned but entirely commercially funded that it can deliver what it does for skills, for SMEs, for the creative sector and for our regional economies. Channel 4 is owned by the British public to serve the British public and so it prioritises those things that will benefit all of us, rather than the bottom line.
As the government considers the future — and possible sale — of Channel 4, we urge them to consider two things. Would all of this be maintained by a private owner or might we be better served by it continuing to evolve and work for us under public ownership?
And if we’re serious about levelling up the creative industries for entrepreneurs pitching for their first commission, for young people trying to break into the industry and for people trying to fulfil their potential, we should let Channel 4 continue to lead the way.
Andy Carter is chairman of the media all-party parliamentary group, Karen Bradley is a former digital, culture, media and sport secretary, and Simon Fell is vice-chairman of the small and micro business all-party parliamentary group and a member of northern research group
