# Keep national museums free for every visitor

> “We will not be pursuing a change in policy to universal free entry, but our findings more broadly will help inform the upcoming Museums Plan.”
>
> — Ian Murray, Minister for Creative Industries, Media and Online Safety, Labour Party; Written ministerial statement, 12 October 2026

- **Status:** Promised
- **Status ladder:** Promised → In plan → Legislated → Funded → Delivering → Delivered
- **Policy area:** [Culture & sport](https://ledgergov.uk/promises/area/culture-and-sport)
- **Speaker:** [Ian Murray](https://ledgergov.uk/actor/ian-murray), Minister for Creative Industries, Media and Online Safety
- **Party:** [Labour Party](https://ledgergov.uk/actor/labour)
- **Made on:** 12 October 2026
- **Where:** Written ministerial statement
- **Cost a year:** No costing published
- **Who it affects:** Everyone who visits a national museum, including visitors from overseas
- **When:** Ongoing; no end date
- **Paid for by:** Not stated when it was announced
- **Quote source:** https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-statements/detail/2026-10-12/HCWS359 (checked word for word on 13 October 2026; Open Parliament Licence v3.0)
- **Last updated:** 13 October 2026
- **Card:** https://ledgergov.uk/promise/uk-national-museums-free-2026

## Where it stands

The government looked at charging overseas visitors to national museums and decided against it. The statement lists the national museum sites with free admission. It has no end date, so the card stays open: it would be broken if any of those sites began charging for general admission.

## Timeline

- 12 October 2026, Promised: The government says it will not change the policy of universal free entry to national museums

## About the cost

No cost has been published.

## Sources

- [Written ministerial statement HCWS359, 12 Oct 2026: National Museums to remain free for everyone](https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-statements/detail/2026-10-12/HCWS359)

## Checks

- Checked automatically by AI Journalist, not yet verified by an editor.
- Checked by AI Journalist (automated) on 13 October 2026.

---

LedgerGov.UK's own writing (headlines, status notes, cost notes, summaries) is licensed under [Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0)](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/): reuse it, crediting LedgerGov.UK with a link to the card. Official figures are under the [Open Government Licence v3.0](https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/) unless their source says otherwise; quotes from Parliament under the [Open Parliament Licence v3.0](https://www.parliament.uk/site-information/copyright-parliament/open-parliament-licence/); other quotes are short extracts whose rights stay with the speaker. How the numbers and statuses are made: https://ledgergov.uk/method.