Stars like Sir Elton John should help the govt persuade European Union countries to relax their rules on letting British musicians tour, Brexit minister Lord Frost has said.
British acts are not any longer guaranteed visa-free travel within the EU and face large fees to tour in some countries.
Many, including Sir Elton, have warned the restrictions could “threaten the longer term success of British music”.
Lord Frost said the govt would enjoy their assistance.
He said it might be “extremely helpful” if musicians and music industry bodies could “use their relationships” within the EU “to encourage those governments to be less restrictive”.
“I said that to Elton John and that i will say it to others,” he told a committee of MPs on Tuesday. “We need that kind of help and support, and i am convinced it might make an enormous difference to assist improve things .”
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Lord Frost was chatting with the House of Commons culture committee , who had called him to offer evidence on post-Brexit visa arrangements for workers within the creative industries.
Labour MP Clive Efford poured scorn on his suggestion, asking whether the government’s policy boiled right down to “getting ambassadors to lobby [foreign governments] and asking Elton John to urge his mates to ring people up?”
“I wouldn’t be so dismissive of such activity,” replied Lord Frost. “That is how you create things happen in diplomacy.”
‘Results this year’
In May, Sir Elton met Lord Frost to debate the touring issue. Writing on Instagram, the pop legend said he had been told resolving the matter would be “a long process”.
“Unfortunately our industry doesn’t have time. it’s dying now,” he said. “We are currently in grave danger of losing a generation of talent thanks to the gaping holes within the government’s trade deal.”
image captionLord Frost had previously cancelled an appearance ahead of the DCMS committee , prompting anger from MPs
On Tuesday, Lord Frost acknowledged that Sir Elton had not needed the freedoms afforded by the EU to form it big within the early 1970s.
“I can not help noticing that he had his first hits before the united kingdom even became a member of the ecu Union, so i feel there’s probably more at play here than pure rules applying within the then-European Community,” he said.
“Talent is vital , and that is why we support our talented industries.”
He told MPs it had been “impossible to be sure” whether things would improve soon “because such a lot depends on the course of the pandemic”.
However, he added that resolving the visa issues was “a major priority for us and that we hope to be ready to deliver some results during this year”.
Culture minister Caroline Dinenage added that visa-free touring is now possible in 17 EU countries, although MPs on the committee suggested things wasn’t so simple – with each of these countries having individual rules.
The hearing came days after many musicians, including Radiohead, Little Mix, Wolf Alice, Niall Horan and Kano backed the Let the Music Move campaign, which is looking on the govt to supply financial help and action on cutting bureaucratic procedure within the EU.
Responding to Lord Frost’s appearance, the group said it felt just like the UK’s “world-beating music industry is being spent time to dry”.
“While we still suffer the catastrophic impacts of Covid, many are now in open despair at the government’s disturbing lack of urgency to deal with a variety of Brexit-related bureaucracy and costs which will make EU touring almost prohibitively expensive and burdensome,” it said during a statement.