We have been told that both the Prime Minister and Lord Frost are aware of the problems facing musicians. Photo credit: UK Parliament
Thanks to all members who have already filled in our brief Brexit survey. The survey closes next week and we will be sending the results to the Prime Minister and other Ministers to press them to fix some of the issues that Brexit has caused for touring in the EU.
Over the last couple of weeks we have had meetings discussing these problems with the Shadow Secretary of State for Culture Jo Stevens, Shadow Arts Minister Alison McGovern and Harriet Harman MP who is leading on a lot of the Labour Party’s Brexit work.
They have all assisted us in questioning the Government on issues such as a potential visa waiver and cabotage (the right to operate transport in a given territory).
Showing how much more difficult touring now is
We also had a meeting with the Performers’ Alliance parliamentary group which is a large group of MPs from all political parties, where we set out a number of member case studies which show how much more difficult touring now is as a result of the Brexit agreement.
The Conservative MPs in our group are also going to try and help us to secure a meeting with Lord Frost, who is leading the Brexit work for the Government. We have been told that both the Prime Minister and Lord Frost are aware of the problems facing musicians and so we want to keep up the pressure on them to ensure that they are resolved.
To this end we have been signatories to joint letters to both the Prime Minister and Lord Frost in the last week.
We continue to work with other organisations on these issues and have weekly meetings with the ISM and Carry on Touring. We will also be involved in the Carry on Touring EU summit on 20 May and we will provide members with further details of this in the near future.
If you haven't already taken our Brexit Impact Survey, please spare five minutes of your time to let us know how Brexit has affected you and your work.