Museumsfear the end of free entry as cuts bite

museum is it isn’t like any other,” he added. “You can’t just close a wing for an afternoon and save money.

“You’ve got to have a core staff by law. We need to make that case.”

Jason McCartney, Tory MP for Colne Valley, said: “This is a national museum and it remembers the rich cultural heritage in terms of the coal mining industry and it’s important it’s judged on its special cultural significance for Yorkshire.”

Spending cuts have already hit several cultural projects in the region.

York Minster will no longer be getting 1m towards the restoration of its medieval Great East Window after development agency Yorkshire Forward had its budget slashed, while the National Railway Museum (NRM) has also lost a 5m grant towards revamp of the Great Hall.

A spokesman for the National Museum of Science & Industry (NMSI) – which receives 38m a year and runs the NRM, the National Media Museum in Bradford, the Science Museum in London and the National Railway Museum in Shildon – said: “NMSI accepts that in the current financial circumstances cuts in grant aid are inevitable.

“We’ve been working to prepare for a range of scenarios and to seek efficiencies that can serve to minimise the impact of the cuts and will continue to do so.”

A recruitment freeze has already been imposed and energy savings made, and the spokesman said NMSI would be “taking a closer look” at the benefits of “flexible” opening hours.

Visitors to the museums will also be encouraged to make more donations.

Royal Armouries said it would not “speculate” on the impact of cuts.

The Yorkshire Post has also previously reported how Museums Sheffield – which runs Weston Park Museum, the Millennium Galleries, Graves Art Gallery and Bishops House on behalf of Sheffield Council – needed a 190,000 bailout from Sheffield Council to help it cope with cashflow problems after having its budget slashed by 172,000.

A DCMS spokeswoman said the department wrote to national museums a couple of months ago asking them what the impact of cuts would be.

“We won’t be able to give any commentary on what level of cuts are likely to be at all ahead of October 20,” she added.

Comment: Page 12.