British music icons are elevating their campaign against the Government to allow visa-free touring in the European Union.
Speaking to The Guardian, Sir Elton John labelled the situation “ridiculous” and the prospect of expensive European Union touring as an “administrative nightmare” for fledgling artists. He went on to argue that “either the Brexit negotiators didn’t care about musicians, or didn’t think about them, or weren’t sufficiently prepared”.
“The UK government [needs] to admit it didn’t do enough for the creative industries during the Brexit negotiations”.
Radiohead bassist Colin Greenwood, The Guardian
Artists including Liam Gallagher, Sting and ardent Brexit supporter Roger Daltrey had previously signed an open letter to Government declaring they had been “shamefully failed by the Government” over the failure to assure free travel for touring musicians.
However, Culture minister Caroline Dinenage alleged the proposals put forward were “not consistent with the manifesto commitment to take back control of our borders”.
Speaking in a parliamentary debate prompted by a petition signed by over 280,000 people on Monday, Dinenage claimed that “the EU rejected this proposal” and that the Government were not playing a “blame game” during the negotiating period. She asserted that the “door remains 100% open” for re-negotiation.
Speaking after the debate, Charlatans frontman Tim Burgess asserted that “it just seems that everybody involved was hugely supportive of the plight of musicians … apart from the one person who could actually do something about it.”
Currently, British musicians can access a 90-day work permit to travel and perform in the European Union, though some have pointed out that individual member states may still require artists to purchase a visa should they visit those nations.
The Musicians Union has said that disagreement between the EU and UK Government appears to be “over the scope of the proposal … The EU wanted a broader visa-free travel agreement for a number of sectors, which was unacceptable to the UK government and the Home Office in particular”. They have recommended that “it would be best to reopen discussions with a new proposal … in order to move away from the current political blame game”.
Words by Jamie Bains.
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