Harry Styles, Elton John, Stormzy and more back Ed Sheeran's open letter to UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer

In an open letter, Sheeran - alongside a host of music industry voices including Harry Styles and Central Cee - has appealed to the UK government to commit £250 million pounds of funding towards music education, which would provide much needed support and focus across the sector. To protect and grow music education, Sheeran is campaigning for five key areas of growth as part of his newly-launched Ed Sheeran Foundation: music funding in schools, training for music teachers, funding for grassroots venues/spaces, music apprenticeships, and a diverse music curriculum.

The letter, which unites voices across the artist community, music industry and civil society, has already surpassed 500 signatures. It follows on from two poignant speeches at last month’s BRIT Awards, where Myles Smith and Ezra Collective urged the UK government to address the demise of grassroots venues, music funding, and music education.

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“I launched the Ed Sheeran Foundation because I believe in the importance of music and that music education should be accessible to all. When I was at school, music gave me purpose, it helped with my mental health, it bought me and many others joy, and it gave me my career," Sheeran explains in his letter.

"Over recent months, I’ve been lucky enough to meet, speak and listen to a number of young kids and teachers across the UK, and it’s confirmed to me that music education is suffering. There’s so much talent out there, so much passion but these kids don’t have the support to realise their dreams of entering the music industry, and I wanted to write this letter on behalf of them."