Mike Leigh has described Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt's decision to abolish the UK Film Council as "totally out of order". The announcement from the Department for Culture, Media and Sports came yesterday, shocking both the public and the UK film industry.

"It's very shocking indeed," the Vera Drake director told the BBC. "It's from left of field in a very sudden and devastating way." Leigh's not the only one against the decision, which will see the organisation, established by Labour to to develop and promote British films, completely disbanded. 

The coalition government are putting the move forward as a way of cutting costs. The Culture Secretary said that the aim was to form a "direct and less bureaucratic relationship with the British Film Institute" - the DCMS have stated that the funding of British films will continue, but have released no further details on who would be distributing the money (which is why they invented the UKFC in the first place).