Film Council scrap plan attacked

Oscar-winning film The King's Speech would not have been made without the soon-to-be-scrapped UK Film Council, MPs have warned.

But the government, which plans to abolish the agency in its bonfire of the quangos, said top British movies would still be produced once the Film Council was broken up.

Labour MPs yesterday attacked the coalition's plans, but culture secretary Jeremy Hunt said: "The British film industry is a great success story. The King's Speech was funded by lottery money.

"Thanks to this coalition government's lottery reforms, lottery money to the film industry will go up by 60 per cent over the period of the parliament."

However, Labour's Chuka Umunna said: "Funding did come from the lottery, but the decision to invest was made by UK Film Council.

"Ian Canning, the film's producer, has said that film wouldn't have been made were it not for the UK Film Council. And Colin Firth said the decision to abolish the Film Council was, on the face of it, 'a short-sighted decision'."