Furnish Criticises Brexit Red Tape As UK Musicians Suffer

David Furnish, Elton John's husband, has attacked the deluge of Brexit red tape and extra costs choking UK musicians trying to tour the EU, as the scale of the slump in British performers in Europe is revealed.

- ADAM FORREST

New analysis shared with The Independent shows that the number of British performers playing festivals across Europe this year is one-third less than before Brexit.

And the number of European acts playing at this year’s Glastonbury has plummeted by half compared to the years before Brexit, according to figures from the Best for Britain campaign group.

Mr Furnish, chief executive of Sir Elton’s Rocket Entertainment Group, said: “The new generation of artists coming through unfortunately are now finding themselves, for touring Europe, with a lot of red tape, a lot of complications and a lot of additional costs in order to launch and build a global music career.”

Calling for ministers to ease the bureaucratic burden, he said live music was “such an important part of the British cultural landscape”, with UK acts “leading the world” for decades.

Sir Elton has previously declared that he is “sick to death” of Brexit, with the superstar attacking the Tory government for a “philistine” failure to acknowledge the “crucifying” impact of red tape on touring performers.

The number of British performers scheduled to take to stages across the major festivals in Europe this summer has fallen by 32 per cent compared to 2017-19, the new figures show.

The findings mark a slight improvement on last year when British musicians playing post-Covid European festivals had fallen by 45 per cent compared to the immediate years before Brexit.