FIRST minister Mark Drakeford has called on the UK Government to step in and help the British arts industry.

Mr Drakeford accused the Government of “trailing but not delivering” a package of support for the sector.

He said the Welsh Government lacked the resources to support the whole arts sector in Wales but would be able to offer assistance on top of a UK Government scheme.

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Speaking at the daily Welsh Government briefing, Mr Drakeford said the furlough scheme should be extended to support sectors that would not be easily able to resume business as the lockdown eases.

“I fear a lot for the art sector in Wales because it has been so very much affected by coronavirus and the prospects for it reopening are not anything that we can reliably provide to them,” Mr Drakeford said.

He said that the Welsh Government was working with the Arts Council of Wales to provide a £7 million urgent response fund and changes have been made to support the sector from the Economic Resilience Fund.

Mr Drakeford went on: “But truthfully the challenge facing the arts sector is a challenge across the UK as a whole.

“The UK Government has trailed but never delivered a package of support for cultural industries and we need to see that package of support.

“It needs to continue to offer a targeted furlough scheme, it needs to continue to offer help to people who are self-employed.

“Then we will be able to do what we have done in other sectors, which is to use our money, which is far more modest than the money the UK Government will be able to provide, to fill in any gaps in that package.

“But that package which has been often talked about, which is yet to be seen, that package really does need to materialise.”

Shows at the Cardiff-based Wales Millennium Centre have been cancelled until the end of the year and the venue could remain closed until April – putting 250 jobs at risk.

Last week the Theatre Royal in Newcastle announced plans to make half of its staff redundant and the Theatre Royal Plymouth said it is starting consultations about job losses following a plunge in revenues.

Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden has previously unveiled a five-stage plan that could see the return of the performing arts.

The next stage is outdoor performances with socially distanced spectators, as well as pilots for indoor performances with a limited crowd.

It then allows for performances to take place inside with a limited, socially distanced audience, before performances are permitted both indoors and outdoors, with more people allowed in the audience.

Meanwhile, non-contact sports could be allowed to resume as the coronavirus restrictions in Wales are further eased.

Mr Drakeford said he was hopeful an announcement could be made next week.

“The resumption of team sports outdoors where they are non-contact sports is very much on the list of things that we are considering,” he said.

“I have a list of quite a lot of other things that are still in play and in the end, as the chief medical officer always reminds me, our job is to look at the cumulative impact of all the different things that we might be able to ease in the context of the virus at the time.

“I won’t be able to let people know the outcome until we have weighed that all up with all the other things we might be able to change and then we will know this time next week what the state of virus circulation is.”