By
Some post-Brexit barriers to business between the UK and the EU
are a consequence of both parties failing to clinch an agreement
that one or the other or both already have with third parties –
in which the loser is the industry concerned, on both sides of
the channel.
Others are a product of our own bureaucracy: of government being
ponderous when it might be nimble in offering advice and support.
And others still are simply a product of Brexit as we agreed it,
which brings with it friction in trade with the EU, which in turn
can be minimised but not eliminated.
The continuing row over the access of British musicians to the EU
and EU musicians to Britain offers examples of all three.
In the first category, we have visas. Some EU states will allow
our musicians to visit without a visa for up to 90 days and other
won’t. That isn’t a problem for other third party states, such as
St Lucia, Tonga or those which make up the United Arab Emirates,
because they have a bileteral deal with the EU that waives the
requirement.
In the second, there is VAT. UK exporters of physically recorded
music and merchandise must go from paying no VAT to negotiating
27 different EU VAT systems to dealing with a single EU VAT
system during this current year. This is a classic instance of
the businesses concerned needing more advice from the government
as it seeks to navigate two systems within twelve months.
Finally, there will be more bureaucracy, admin and paperwork –
even if the UK and the EU can sort that visa issue, and others
that could reasonably be settled (such as carnets, for which
there may already be an exemption for portable musical
instruments taken into the EU for professional purposes).
That last category is integral to leaving the Single Market and
Customs Union – which is outweighed, to some Brexiteers, by the
regaining of national independence and, to others, by the gains
that come from being outside the EU system and willing to act on
it. Our vaccine success alone could be worth “more than the most
pessimistic assumptions about the economic damage of Brexit,”
according to Jethro
Elsden of the Centre for Policy Studies.
(Northern Ireland, of course, remains in the Single Market for
goods and, in key respects, in the Customs Union too for
practical purposes.)
Why the difficulty over negotiating a deal on visa waivers or
work permits? Because musicians are caught up in a wider issue of
which their story is part: freedom of movement.
To cut a long story short, the EU made a public offer on the
issue, which had wider implications for free movement, and the UK
made a private one, that did not.
The former would have applied not only to musicians but to other
workers and travellers, as Free Movement
confirms. But, for many people who backed Brexit, ending it was
integral to the exercise.
Our proprietor’s EU referendum day poll of over 12,000 people
found that a third of
those who voted Leave said the main reason was that leaving
“offered the best chance for the UK to regain control over
immigration and its own borders.”
Meanwhile, says that “the reason why we rejected the offer from
the European Union was that it wasn’t binding, it didn’t cover
touring, it didn’t cover technical support staff, and crucially,
it didn’t cover work permits.”
This continuing impasse is an early bidder for entry near the top
of David Frost’s inbox as he begins only his second day as a
member of the Cabinet – though if the free movement obstacle
remains immovable, there will be little he can wring out of the
EU.
However, Frost knows the ropes, having led the negotiation on the
trade deal himself, and is so is well-placed to knock on the
doors of individual member states, into whose hands most of these
matters fall in the absence of an EU-wide agreement.
UK Music argues that “fishing is of course an important British
industry, contributing £446 million to the UK economy in 2019 and
employing 12,000 fishers”.
“But it pales in comparison with the UK music industry, which in
the same year contributed £5.8 billion to the economy and
supported 200,000 jobs.”
It is strange to think that there is more money in Peter
Grimes, figuratively speaking, than there is in real
fishing – even if because there is less than there might be
because of the dispute.
There will be a £23 million fund for fisheries, and Music UK
proposes, by way of parallel, a music exports office to help the
sector cope with the increased bureaucracy.
Perhaps will make an offer tomorrow – after all, today’s papers
are full of pre-briefing, as is
way with modern Budgets, of £400 million more for theatres,
museums, galleries and live music venues.
