Jessica Hynes: W1A actor gives impassioned Bafta TV speech condemning austerity

She has voiced fears that low-income families will suffer under the new Conservative majority government

Jessica Hynes, W1A (PA)

Jessica Hynes spoke against cuts while collecting her Bafta at Sunday night's ceremony.

Alluding to Conservative arts cuts, Hynes said that normal people suffer when budgets are slashed.

While collecting her award for Female Performance in a Comedy Programme for her part in BBC comedy W1A, she said: "I am from a single-parent family, and my mum was a full-time worker to support me and my sister.

"I'm really worried about the cuts that are coming to state education for people in low-income families. Because I don't think low-income means low talent or low education or low intelligence."

Hynes, who has starred in programmes such as Spaced, The Royle Family and Twenty Twelve, has backed mentoring scheme Arts Emergency.

"Without organisations like that [and the] people who have supported me all the way through my career - thank you, everyone, this is for you - without them, I wouldn't be here," she said.

Speaking to reporters later in the evening, she expressed dismay at the election result, which returned a Tory government to parliament.

"The arts is the first thing to go when the cuts and austerity hit," she said.

Hynes has offered free acting lessons to 20 state school drama departments to help young people break into a career in acting and writing.

So, we've got this thing: Jessica Hynes as Siobhan Sharpe in W1A (BBC)

Previous Conservative cuts to the arts in Britain have included the closure of publicly-funded arts networking resource Ideas Tap, and promises to privatise key parts of public institutions, such as the National Gallery. On top of this, studying for a degree in arts now costs up to £30,000. The BBC's funding structure is also set to be reviewed over the coming weeks.