Actor says there should be an atmosphere of excitement around giving in the arts, while churches lament scapping of VAT relief
Cate Blanchett has become the latest in a growing list of luminaries to condemn plans in George Osborne's budget to impose a cap on tax relief for charitable giving.
The actor, who is appearing in Gross und Klein, a production by the Sydney Theatre Company, which opens on Friday at the London 2012 festival at the Barbican, said there should be an atmosphere of excitement around giving in the arts. She acts as fundraiser and manager for the company.
"It's interesting what's happening in London at the moment, with the potential curbing of philanthropic giving. I think it's really important when it's increasingly hard to be seen to be justified giving money to the arts that a culture of philanthropy is really encouraged."
Osborne's plans have already been greeted with disgust by universities, the medical profession, the arts and charities, as well as his own backbenchers. Now the church has weighed in.
The Bishop of Exeter, Michael Langrish, has written to Osborne describing the sudden withdrawal of VAT relief on the renovation of historic buildings as an "absolute horror". "The VAT change shows muddled thinking on behalf of the government," he wrote, calling the scrapping of the relief "a tax on churches".
It is calculated that the removal of the relief will add £20m to the church's bills, and put plans to restore hundreds of churches on hold.
Harriet Harman, the shadow culture secretary, wrote to David Cameron urging him to think again, saying: "Listed buildings are our country's heritage – our past and our values built into bricks and mortar. The government's plan to scrap the zero-rating for approved alterations, alterations that will allow them to continue serving their communities, threaten their future as well as their past."
Cameron also found himself under attack from church leaders in his own Witney constituency. Retired bishop Bill Down, chairman of the £750,000 restoration appeal for the medieval St Mary's Church in the centre of the town, has written to Cameron to protest. He told the Oxford Times: "If we have to pay VAT of £150,000, it could make all the difference between success and failure."
Banbury MP Tony Baldry, who is a church estates commissioner, has written to the chancellor asking for a rethink.
The Bishop of Truro, the Right Reverend Tim Thornton, said: "The generosity of people across this county who give so much to maintain our beautiful church buildings is remarkable. It is, of course, the case that, unlike other countries in Europe, we do not receive any subsidy from the government to maintain what are, after all, key parts of this country's heritage."