Peers remain concerned for lasting damage to UK economy without remedy of post-Brexit arrangements for touring creative professionals
Friday 21 January 2022
The House of Lords European Affairs Committee has today, 21 January 2022, published a further letter to the UK Government setting out continuing concerns about the lack of provision in the Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) on the movement of creative professionals, and the impact this is having on the creative industries and the disproportionate effect on young musicians.
Background
On 14 September 2021 the House of Lords European Affairs Committee heard evidence from industry experts on the impact of the lack of provision in the TCA on the creative industries, following the UK’s exit from the EU.
The creative industries are one of the UK’s most important export industries, with the music industry alone valued at £5.8bn and employing more than 100,000 people. This sector has been particularly badly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and is only now beginning to recover. The Committee heard compelling evidence that this recovery is critically threatened by the restrictions on touring and performing in Europe that have been imposed as a result of the UK’s exit from the EU. The Committee first wrote to the Government on these matters on 19 October 2021.
The Letter
In their letter to Rt Hon Liz Truss Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, the Committee continues to urge the Government to work with each EU Member State to negotiate arrangements that enable creative professionals to tour for their work, particularly with those Member States whose visa-free travel arrangements are so restrictive as to make touring impossible.
The Committee remains concerned about the disproportionate impact of the end of free movement on young musicians. The Committee heard clear evidence that young classical musicians, in particular, were being forced out of the profession because they were no longer able to travel to an EU Member State for work at short notice.
The Committee urges the Government to make full use of the institutional structures established under the TCA, in addition to bilateral negotiations with Member States, to raise these issues with the EU as a whole.
