'Hugely disappointing' government response to libraries petition

Supporters including JK Rowling and Neil Gaiman add their names to a campaign calling for library funding to be ringfenced

The government’s response to a call from tens of thousands of library lovers, including JK Rowling and Philip Pullman, for libraries funding to be ringfenced is “hugely disappointing”, say campaigners.

Library supporter Frances Belbin started a petition on the government’s website in October, calling for funding to be ringfenced in order to keep branches open. Pointing out that “libraries across the country are being closed, cut back and/or outsourced to volunteers as a result of government cuts to local authority budgets”, Belbin’s petition has since been signed by almost 30,000 people, and backed by authors including Malorie Blackman, Frank Cottrell Boyce, Neil Gaiman and Joanne Harris. Rowling called on her millions of Twitter followers to join her in signing the petition, writing: “We need more signatures to protect government funding for libraries.”

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