{"id":1191920,"date":"2026-09-07T19:34:16","date_gmt":"2026-09-07T19:34:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1191920\/"},"modified":"2026-09-07T19:34:16","modified_gmt":"2026-09-07T19:34:16","slug":"no-tangible-progress-on-brexit-touring-barriers-say-alarmed-mps","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1191920\/","title":{"rendered":"No \u201ctangible progress\u201d on Brexit touring barriers, say \u201calarmed\u201d MPs"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The UK government has responded to a report on post-Brexit touring that was published by Parliament’s Culture, Media & Sport Select Committee<\/strong> back in June<\/a>. Ministers agree with MPs that \u201ctoo many creative and cultural professionals continue to face barriers when touring and collaborating across Europe\u201d, and say they share the committee\u2019s \u201cdesire\u201d to see \u201ctangible progress in this area\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n

However, the government\u2019s response doesn’t really have any \u201ctangible progress\u201d to report on, nor does it make any tangible commitments to address the problems in the near future, beyond a commitment to talk about them a lot in meetings. And that\u2019s despite the Labour Party\u2019s 2024 election manifesto \u201ccommitting to help our touring artists\u201d, something the government response acknowledges.\u00a0<\/p>\n

To be fair, solving many of the problems Brexit introduced for UK artists touring Europe requires the European Union or individual EU member states to change their rules, which means the government can\u2019t unilaterally act to remove the barriers. Hence the commitment instead to talk a lot in relevant meetings.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Although the select committee did suggest some things the government could do on its own without relying on the EU playing ball and, in the main, ministers have rejected those proposals.\u00a0<\/p>\n

All of which has been noted by committee chair Caroline Dinenage MP<\/strong>. \u201cWhile we appreciate the government\u2019s commitment to engage with the EU\u201d, she says, \u201cwe are alarmed by its lack of progress in tackling the challenges facing touring artists, particularly those from working class backgrounds\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The \u201cevidence is clear\u201d that \u201ccosts and administrative burdens continue to limit touring opportunities in the EU\u201d, Dinenage continues. And that\u2019s based both on evidence provided to the select committee as part of its review, and also data in a new report the government itself published last month<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe concerns reflected in our report are reinforced by the government\u2019s own research\u201d, Dinenage says, \u201cwhich is why it is disappointing the government has not made any tangible progress in spite of our clear recommendations. We will be continuing to monitor the situation closely, including the outcome of the next UK-EU summit\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n

There are various issues faced by British artists touring Europe that were created when the UK left the EU. They include visa and travel permit issues, customs procedures and carnets, transport and haulage restrictions, and tax complexities around merchandise sales.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In terms of persuading the EU and EU member states to change their rules, the government insists that doing so is a priority. It writes in its response, \u201cwe have consistently raised the issues touring artists and their crews face in our engagement with the EU and member states\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It then adds, \u201cthe government will continue to engage constructively with the EU, member states and industry to explore opportunities for practical improvements where these are in the interests of the UK\u2019s creative and cultural sectors\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The industry hopes that these issues will be high on the agenda at the next UK\/EU Summit, even though we don\u2019t know when that summit might happen. It was due to take place in July but was postponed after Keir Starmer <\/strong>quit as Prime Minister prompting a significant revamp of the government.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In terms of measures the UK government could undertake unilaterally, MPs suggested ministers look into how they could reduce the upfront costs of carnets, the paperwork that is required when taking goods into other countries that you will use but not sell, such as instruments and other kit used when staging gigs. UK artists didn\u2019t need carnets when touring the EU prior to Brexit.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The government has no direct control over the costs associated with carnets, though MPs noted in their report that \u201csome countries subsidise the costs of carnets\u201d, and also suggested that the government could introduce a \u201cguarantee or insurance policy to reduce upfront costs\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In its response the government simply says it has \u201cno current plans\u201d to \u201csubsidise carnets or provide a guarantee or insurance policy\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n

MPs also proposed that the government \u201cestablish a cultural touring advice hub\u201d that would \u201coffer practical, expert advice to artists and their teams on all aspects of international touring, including in the EU\u201d and also \u201cact as a clear point of access to relevant government support\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In its response, the government says it will \u201cimprove and update\u201d existing guidance on its website, but doesn\u2019t describe anything that could be considered a \u201chub\u201d, and also argues there are limits on what level of advice it can actually provide.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cGiven that visa, work permit, customs and other requirements are determined by individual member states and can change over time\u201d, it says, \u201cit would not be appropriate for the UK government to provide definitive interpretations of, or judgements on, guidance issued by EU member states or other foreign authorities\u201d.<\/p>\n

Therefore, it reckons, \u201cour ability to go further than the current offer is limited\u201d. But \u201cwe continue to flag the need for member states guidance to be easily accessible, and we are continually monitoring our services for improvement\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The UK government has responded to a report on post-Brexit touring that was published by Parliament’s Culture, Media…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1191921,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5226],"tags":[802,748,2000,299,5187,1699,4884,16,15],"class_list":["post-1191920","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-brexit","tag-brexit","tag-britain","tag-eu","tag-europe","tag-european","tag-european-union","tag-great-britain","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/117231436791787108","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1191920","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1191920"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1191920\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1191921"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1191920"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1191920"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1191920"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}