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Port-of-Spain North/St Ann's East MP, Stu­art Young, says the de­ci­sion by Her­itage Pe­tro­le­um Com­pa­ny Lim­it­ed to end spon­sor­ship of Skif­fle Bunch Steel Or­ches­tra and Siparia Del­tones Steel Or­ches­tra forms part of what he calls an on­go­ing pat­tern of re­duced sup­port for steel­bands.

Her­itage yes­ter­day is­sued a let­ter to Skif­fle Bunch in­di­cat­ing that its spon­sor­ship will end on 27 De­cem­ber 2025. The com­pa­ny said it ap­pre­ci­at­ed the part­ner­ship and the work done by the band but not­ed that the de­ci­sion fol­lowed in­ter­nal re­view. Her­itage al­so asked that use of its name and lo­go be dis­con­tin­ued.

Young says the move fol­lows ear­li­er de­ci­sions by Na­tion­al Gas Com­pa­ny to end as­sis­tance to three steel­bands. He says the ac­tions im­pact the na­tion­al in­stru­ment and the wider pan move­ment. Young says the de­ci­sions raise ques­tions about the ap­proach of the cur­rent gov­ern­ment and calls on the au­thor­i­ties to ex­plain the rea­sons.