As MPs were busily dry-cleaning their suits and polishing their speeches for the Labour party conference this month, the Nerve approached leading British creatives, from actors to authors, rappers to filmmakers, to ask what their artforms need most right now in order to survive or, in an ideal world, thrive. The question posed was: what is just one thing that the Labour government could do to help the creative and tech industries?

Actor best known for Tipping the Velvet and Detectorists on TV, and most recently on stage opposite John Lithgow in Giant

We need money for the arts in schools. Kids feel fear every day, be it fear of climate change or fear of war. Our children need access to music and drama today more than ever before. The future of our culture as a nation, one of our great British assets, is at risk without investment in the imaginations and talents of the future. Music and drama expand the mind and bring communities together. They unite us all. 

The arts are NOT an extra-curricular luxury, but a vital life force of this nation, to which everyone must have access. 

East London-born musician with roots in grime whose songs cover issues including social justice and Black history 

The government should re-fund the social sectors within communities and reopen youth clubs tomorrow. They should be the first places that people put money into because they get kids off the street. Youth clubs allow them to feel comfortable being creative in front of their friends and the people around them, within their communities. There are people like me who would love to work in youth clubs. It’s really simple. Put money back into youth clubs and let kids create, locally, and non-expensively.

Award-winning author best known for her seasonal quartet of novels beginning with Autumn. Her forthcoming novel Glyph will be published in January

First up we need the government to legislate very tightly to protect copyright and usage theft, right across the arts, from generative AI – especially now that the country's going to become what looks like a giant US AI hub.

Then we need them to understand that while the arts can and do form an incredibly lucrative industry for a country, a state can't and shouldn't ever treat the arts like an industry; for creativity to grow it needs backing, thoughtful funding and nurturing all across the spectrum of its possibilities. That needs knowledgeable and contextual attention and wide-open mindedness.

Two things. But they're connected. Here's an Edwin Morgan quote : "Forget your literature? - forget your soul." Forget your art? Same thing.

Creative director Liverpool Everyman and Playhouse Theatres

Regional theatres should be placed at the heart of government plans for skills, culture and the creative economy — we work to develop the workforce of tomorrow, and we desperately need the financial support to ensure that pipeline continues, from our schools to our stages. 

Filmmaker and writer whose work includes the films Tina Goes Shopping and One Mile Away, and the Channel 4 school drama Ackley Bridge

A strong start would be to appoint a Minister of Culture – someone like Chris Smith back in the day – who actually has a deep personal interest in culture. I sat down to write this morning to hear Lisa Nandy sounding off, at great length, on the Today programme on Radio 4. She used the entire interview to complain about what she called ‘illegal migration’. Culture is widely regarded as a filler post to reward a yes person and reveals what a low priority is given to the cultural industries.

Bestselling author and the founder of the Women’s Prize 

The key thing is to protect UK copyright - it's fair, it works, it protects those whose research, imagination, writing, dedication creates the work. The creative industries in the UK are worth something in the region of £125 billion per year, we all live here and pay our taxes, where many of the tech companies are offshore. Stealing our work, without permission or compensation, is theft - the Government needs to support our copyright laws, and support artists, otherwise there will soon be no original work left to plunder.

Screenwriter and playwright whose credits include The Split, The Hour and The Iron Lady

The UK TV and Film sector generates billions of pounds in revenue for the UK economy. But it relies on the next generation of creatives to ensure it survives. The one thing the Labour government could do is to guarantee a commitment to putting art and inspiration at the heart of the school curriculum. Creative education is being eradicated from schools and colleges up and down the country. When a government stops believing in the value of art, music, drama, dance, design, film, literature and poetry then it stops believing in its thinkers and its dreamers. Without them our industry will die. 

Actor whose roles include the lead in The Kite Runner and Dodi Fayed in Netflix series The Crown and who was a producer on the Together for Palestine event

Reverse the culture of austerity, and create spaces which are not beholden to market economy logic, in order to drive both human centred innovation, and creative work that is able to challenge anti-democratic power, and create new imaginaries.

Musician who, with his brother Phil, founded pioneering electronic music duo Orbital

I would like to see all the cuts made to art and music education under Michael Gove and the last Conservative government undone. Children must have the chance to experiment with creative subjects at school. For some kids, it’s just not possible at home for one reason or another. If you downgrade the quality of creative subjects at school, it’s sending the message that the arts aren’t important.

Artistic director and co-CEO of Bush Theatre, London

Over the past few years, I have been keen to explore how technological advancements can help artists think differently about how we engage audiences — how we can bring our art to them, meeting them where they are, on their own terms.

As a society, and as an industry, we spend a great deal of our energy fearing the potential negative impacts that incoming technological advances may have on our art form, our freelance community, and our ongoing place in society.

The government needs to do more to protect us from what can, at times, feel like an existential threat, and to provide more space for us to explore where creative opportunities may lie.

Best selling novelist of the His Dark Materials trilogy whose latest book, the third volume of his Book of Dust trilogy, will be published next month

First: restore the Net Book Agreement, which was done away with 30 years ago. It was a system that prevented retailers from selling books at a discount. Everyone benefited, from publishers who could sell popular books at a price that allowed them to subsidise first-time authors and allow them to develop a backlist and establish a career, to the authors themselves, who could receive a fair price for their work, to the readers who had a wider range of titles to choose from, to the small booksellers who didn’t have to compete with huge monolithic online chains. Everyone concerned with books was better off with the Net Book Agreement; it was only abolished to appease the monstrous gods of the market, who need to be destroyed entirely. 

And that would come second. 

Film director behind Dreams of a Life, The Falling and most recently Typist Artist Pirate King

Very simply in terms of British independent films, more money please! The alterations in tax credits were great, but we need the finance to get there! So please, more equity/financial support for British independent filmmakers, so we can make films that don’t necessarily have to adhere to commercial restraints, and can star unknown actors, tell stories that have not been told/heard, find new forms and enrich the cultural landscape. And it is not just debut filmmakers that need a space to do this, it is important to support all filmmakers at all stages who are committed to British film culture. 

Theatre and film director behind hits including The History Boys and co-founder and artistic director of the Bridge theatre, London

Make good on its promises to make music, drama and art central to the state education system.

Artistic director and chief executive, Factory International, Manchester

Our arts and culture show who we are – in terms of what gets expressed, and what gets ignored, in terms of who is involved and who isn’t. We need to invest in the hope and community that art, music and performance can embody, not least through initiatives such as our own Factory Academy, which trains people from all backgrounds for jobs in the creative industries – ensuring that the opportunities (and growth) provided by the arts reach everyone.

Documentary producer whose film, The Success of Moss Side challenges the stereotypes of Manchester's inner-city neighbourhood

Change the way in which creatives can enter the industry. There must be initiatives that support young people and emerging productions in their creative journeys.

I am the director of a creative and community-driven media organisation called SNE Studios and, despite the impact our first-ever production made, we still cannot access funding grants due to the set-up of the current system. We have proven to be more capable than many who do qualify, yet we are still being excluded.

One system that fits all doesn't work in any sector, not immigration, not healthcare, and most certainly not in the creative industries. We need a multi-layered tier system allowing multiple entry points to funding, helping support those critical creatives who currently sit on the sidelines watching funding be recycled to the same organisations and programmes year in year out.

Classically trained composer, multi-instrumentalist and singer

We have a digital government ID on the way, digital drivers’ licenses and even a digital NHS card. Why do we not also have a digital ID for creatives and their IP? By creating a trusted and complete data set of creatives and their works, like my project Auracles.io aims to do, permissions could be granted granularly, allowing each person to dictate how their work can be used (or not used) in AI training or otherwise. A creative ID would facilitate a marketplace of services and also enable and empower creatives to have “say and sway” in policy changes that affect them. We have an opportunity to build a new system with this foundational building block that could augment the music industry or any other creative space for the better. Why not try?