Brexit caused £160m loss to UK creative industries, analysis reveals

Britain’s creative industries are missing out on more than £160m in EU funding because of Brexit, new analysis shared with The Independent suggests. It follows the Conservative government’s decision to pull the UK out of the EU’s Creative Europe project – which helps fund the continent’s arts and culture sector – during the Brexit negotiations. The UK Trade and Business Commission estimated that without Brexit, the UK’s creative sectors would have received an extra £163m from the project – based on the percentage of total funds they received last cycle. Ms Annetts, who sits on the UK Trade and Business Commission, added: “At a time when we desperately need growth in the UK economy the government urgently needs to replace this lost EU funding and root out the mountains of red tape which Brexit has imposed on the creative industries.” The Independent previously revealed that Boris Johnson’s government rejected an offer of visa-free tours by musicians to EU countries, sparking outrage from the industry dealing with the costly blow of permits. Despite promises to match lost EU funding, the UK Trade and Business Commission – a group of independent experts which examines the impact of Brexit – said the only successor scheme provided by the UK government, the Global Screen Fund, provided just £7m in its first year.