Museums need to care for their money as well as their exhibits

Any visitor to the British Museum would not recognise it as an institution in crisis. Thronging with visitors from all over the world, it ranks second only to Blackpool pleasure beach on the list of the nation's most popular attractions. Exhibits such as the Elgin marbles and the Benin bronzes highlight its role as one of the foremost centres in the world for the study of ancient civilisations and much else besides.

That much is impressive indeed. What is less awe-inspiring is the financial mess the museum finds itself in. The British Museum is said to be running a deficit of £5m a year, and may be forced to sack 10 per cent of its staff and close some of its spaces.

It is true that the financial management of the museum has often been poor. The brief tenure of Suzanne Taverne as managing director did suggest that that was starting to change, but she has now departed. The new director, Neil MacGregor, who will take over in August, would be well advised to recruit someone of her calibre to help him inject some business acumen into the place. Indeed, given that the taxpayer funds about half the museum's revenue, there might well be a case for that particular post to be a Treasury appointment. Better that than the museum be forced to sell some assets.

All that said, however, the museum does have a case for increased funding from the state, even if that has to be tied to tighter financial disciplines. The public grant to the museum has been cut by around a fifth in real terms over the past decade. And the museum is right to point out that it has had no benefit from the Government's decision to refund VAT to museums that have stopped charging for entrance because the British Museum has never charged such a fee.

So the museum should be rescued, but the taxpayer needs to be assured that the museum's finances are to be placed on a better footing. One way of doing that might be to fund generously the release of some of its many unseen, stored treasures to other museums and galleries around the country. But the museum's board of trustees need to be clear that the taxpayer does not owe them a living.