BRITISH LIBRARY

Early day motion 606, tabled 27 October 2015 by Keir Starmer (Labour). Signed by 21 members.

That this House applauds the unique role played by the British Library in the UK's increasingly knowledge-based economy; notes that the Library receives over 1.6 million yearly visits to its 150 million items, including the Magna Carta and St Cuthbert's Gospel; celebrates the Library's digital collection of over 600 terabytes which serves over three million users every year; recognises the value of these resources to higher education and research at undergraduate, postgraduate and professional level; welcomes the Library's plans to expand its Boston Spa site in West Yorkshire for storing and managing collections that contributes to the knowledge economy in the North of England; praises the support that the British Library's UK Research Reserve has provided to universities, which has enabled them to deliver savings of £37 million over five years; further recognises that the British Library creates net economic value of £419 million for the UK; further notes that the British Library's business support services have already created 4,200 jobs nationwide; notes that the Library has made real-terms savings of 30 per cent to its budget, less than a third that of the Library of Congress, and less than three quarters that of France's national library; recognises that further cuts to the British Library's budget would undermine its economic contribution and damage its international status as one of the world's greatest libraries; and urges the Government to protect the funding of the British Library from further cuts.

Signatures by party: Labour 13, Scottish National Party 3, DUP 2, Conservative 1, Green 1, Labour/Co-operative 1.