THIS week I had the pleasure of attending a performance of Eilidh Loan’s brilliant play ‘Moorcroft’ at the Beacon Arts Centre.

Work like this, and many other events at the Beacon, are a fantastic advert for our arts and culture sector.

The Beacon Arts Centre provides not only entertainment: it provides local people with access to their own culture and to artistic work that speaks directly to our society and concerns.

It is a fantastic advert for the arts in Inverclyde, and a prized local asset. I was pleased to also meet co-director Lesley Davidson this week to learn more of their extensive community engagement work.

The creative industry generally in Scotland is worth nearly £4.5 billion and 80,000 jobs. Arts and culture punches massively above its weight in the national economy.

Which is why the Scottish Government’s recent reversal on its commitments to Creative Scotland, which funds the Beacon alongside Inverclyde Council, are so disgraceful.

Having originally proposed a 10 per cent cut in Creative Scotland’s funding in this year’s Scottish budget, the Scottish Government rightly reversed that decision in February following an outcry from the culture sector which laid bare the devastating, even existential, impact such a cut could have.

Just a few weeks ago, however, Cabinet Secretary Angus Robertson revealed that he was reneging on that promise.

It was a shameful decision, and given the earlier promises made NOT to go ahead with the cut, a profound breach of trust with the cultural sector.

Cuts to local council budgets will not help protect local cultural provision either.

Under pressure the Cabinet Secretary and First Minister are now making fresh promises about increased funding in future years for the culture sector.

If the Scottish Government truly value creative industries in Inverclyde and beyond, then they will properly fund Creative Scotland and councils like Inverclyde.

Let’s see if they do the right thing and keep this latest promise.