Tom Watson, deputy Labour party leader, condemns fall in library borrowing as a ‘scandal’, as organisers encourage parents and children to make use of free book token
As children across the UK don Matilda and Harry Potter costumes in celebration of World Book Day, shadow culture secretary Tom Watson has condemned the “scandal” that the number of books borrowed from public libraries in England has plummeted by almost 100m since 2011.
Research commissioned by the Labour party shows that the number of books borrowed from libraries fell from 255,128,957 in 2011 to 157,387,109 in 2018 – a 38% decrease. Drawing from the data released by the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (Cipfa), which had already revealed that 127 public libraries closed in England, Wales and Scotland in 2018, the new research found that the north-east experienced the largest decline in book loans, down by 49%.
Related: Give older children story time to halt fall in young readers, urge experts
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