A protest will take place outside the Senedd today over fears that cuts of millions of pounds in funding to museums and the National Library of Wales in Aberystwyth will damage culture in Wales.

In the Welsh Government’s draft budget, the National Library of Wales is facing a funding cut of more than £1.4m from what it was initially promised in initial budgets in February.

Funding for 2024 will be £11,093,000, a fall of almost £800,000 from 2023.

National Museum of Wales, which looks after sites including the National Wool Museum in Drefach Felindre, faces a cut of almost £3m.

Unions are now leading a protest at the Senedd on Tuesday morning, 27 February against the cuts that the Prospect union says “threaten the bodies that protect Wales’ heritage.”

The protest will take place between 11am and 3pm.

The protest comes as a petition calling for the cuts to be reversed reaches more than 4,000 signatures.

The petition to the Senedd says it “calls upon the Welsh Government to increase spending on institutions that safeguard the heritage and history of Wales – the National Library of Wales, Amgueddfa Cymru and the Royal Commission – instead of cutting funding by between 10.5 per cent and 22.3 per cent. “

“These institutions protect the historical and cultural legacy of our nation, by collecting and preserving it, and then showcasing it to everyone who lives in Wales,” the petition said.

“They also provide the world with a window to our unique history.”

The petition currently has 4,144 signatures and can be found here.