BILLY Elliott screenplay writer Lee Hall has been given an honorary degree from a North-East university.

Mr Hall, who also wrote The Pitmen Painters, received an Honorary Doctor of Letters from Northumbria University.

The Newcastle-born writer used the ceremony to reiterate his attack on the city council’s proposed £2.5m cultural budget cut.

He said: “I am thrilled to be honoured by the university at a time when libraries and arts are being threatened in the city.

“The recognition that culture and art is valued as centrally important to the university's concerns is a reminder of the vital part they play in all our lives.

“My work celebrates the fact that art and culture are not preserves of the privileged but can, and should be, central to all our lives in the North-East."

Much of his writing is rooted in working class culture in the region and a central theme in his work is the role that art plays in working class communities.

His biggest commercial success came from writing the screenplay to Billy Elliott, a film set in a County Durham mining community which follows a young boy in his dream to become a professional ballet dancer.

The film won numerous awards and earned him an academy award nomination for Best Original Screenplay.

The film was later turned into a stage musical with music by Elton John, which played to glowing reviews on Broadway, and won the 2009 Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical.

His play, The Pitman Painters, based on the true story of a group of miners from Ashington in Northumberland who take up painting with remarkable results was originally produced at Newcastle’s Live Theatre before going on two nationwide tours and playing on Broadway.