Former Conservative MP and Attorney General of England & Wales Dominic Grieve encouraged the European Movement to build on the ties it has built across various political parties, in order to have an impact in this parliament.

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This week brought good news. Under pressure from thousands of campaigners like you, the Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng yesterday announced that his department is scrapping its proposed review of workers’ rights after Brexit.

This means that crucial employment rights like the absolute maximum 48-hour working week, rest breaks at work, and holiday pay entitlements are not under imminent threat.

Over 5,500 European Movement members and supporters wrote to their MP, demanding that they uphold vital protections and ensure that the UK keeps pace with any new EU protections too. Together we were part of making the government reconsider and showed that we won’t back down on our fundamental rights.

We will keep monitoring and exposing any government plans to pull us further away from the rights we had as EU members. And we won’t stop there; we will be pushing the government to go further by keeping pace with new workers' rights protections in the EU. But for now, thank you so much for helping us win this round.

Bell Ribeiro-Addy MP

Cambridge for Europe has been organising on-line speaker events since the early days of the pandemic.  Mostly these have been on our own, though we’ve also teamed up with other European Movement local groups, memorably hosting Ian Dunt with Bath for Europe last autumn.  To kick-off our 2021 series, we invited Deborah Mattinson to talk to us in late January.  Deborah is the co-founder of the research agency Britain Thinks and the author of a new book, ‘Beyond the Red Wall: Why Labour Lost, How the Conservatives Won and What Will Happen Next’.

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EUROPEAN MOVEMENT BRIEFING ON THE OPPOSITION DAY DEBATE MOTION TO PROTECT EMPLOYMENT RIGHTS, JANUARY 2021

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In Love With The Shape Of EU

From Ed Sheeran and Brian May to Sir Elton John and Sting, more than a hundred of the biggest names in UK music this week joined forces to speak up and speak out against the government’s failure to secure post-Brexit visa-free arrangements for touring musicians that will enable them to perform throughout the EU.

Breaking Down Barriers

Under the Brexit deal, there will be more red tape for musicians as there will for everyone, whenever they transport goods into the EU, provide services or do both as in this case. There will be more paperwork, more searches of goods and more delays in crossing borders. These new tariffs and barriers for touring the EU will not only affect the performers and have immediate costs for the economy, but will also impact Britain’s cultural reputation and risk our position as a world leader in music, hurting us in the long term.

Freedom (Of Movement)

The issue of touring visas is only one of many hurdles when it comes to musicians and performers. The loss of freedom of movement is not just disastrous for UK citizens trying to earn a living in the EU, but for EU citizens working in the UK, now and in the future. For example, more than 20 per cent of musicians in some orchestras are from EU countries. Some of those EU citizens may not be able to secure settled status by the June 30 deadline, and musicians of the future will find it even harder to work in the UK.

Don't Stop Me Now

The problem of cabotage, meanwhile, will impact the ability of performers to cross multiple borders in a single tour. Under the new rules, hauliers carrying touring equipment around the EU will be limited to just two additional stops before returning to the UK, with the amount of time a British artist can spend in any of the 26 EU countries being determined by national law. Performers may require individual visas for each member state and could face £350 permits for individual instruments and other equipment. (The Common Travel Area means the rules for UK musicians travelling to Ireland are different).

The Taxman's Taken All My Dough

The limit on how many stops a touring lorry can make in the EU will be a major barrier to touring musicians who rely on UK-based hauliers to transport music equipment across the union for tours, most of which will exceed the total allowance of three stops. Adding to the costs and complications is tax. “Cultural Exemption”, which enables exemption from VAT on admission charges for cultural events in the EU, is vital for touring performers, and will now be lost. This will make tours of the EU by UK artists less viable in future.

Money Money Money

We will all suffer if these issues are not resolved. As Horace Trubridge, general secretary of the Musicians’ Union, told the House of Lords European Union committee today, the music industry alone is worth £5.8 billion to the UK economy, with more than 100,000 jobs. The music industry is of greater net value than the fishing industry, which despite being only 0.02 per cent of the British economy received considerably more consideration during the Brexit negotiations.

Unappreciated

And it is not just fishing that has received more coverage over the last few years. Overall, the creative industries sector, worth £110 billion to the UK’s economy and the fastest-growing sector, employs 700,000 more people than the financial services sector, and is worth £8 billion more than the automotive sector.

Danger Danger

Established pop stars, up-and-coming young artists, orchestras, classical musicians (see here for some heart-breaking case studies), all will suffer under the new rules, their right to ply their trades and bring joy in peril. With many performers already struggling due to the ban on live music under coronavirus restrictions, these new post-Brexit costs and red tape may push some over the edge and out of business.

Fight The Power

We will continue to fight for them, and all affected sectors, to limit the damage done by Brexit and rebuild our relationships with the EU.

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So much for bringing back powers to Westminster. The government this week confirmed it will shut down a parliamentary committee that would have scrutinised the impact of Brexit.

The Brexit committee has never been more important. Parliament must have a role in examining the Brexit deal and its impact, to call on ministers to explain its implications, and to challenge the government on its future plans for our relationship with the EU. That is why we are launching a petition calling on Jacob Rees-Mogg to reinstate the committee – click here to sign.

From the attempt to use the Royal Prerogative to trigger Article 50 to the prorogation of parliament and threats to break international law – over the last five years ministers have continually affronted our democracy, avoided parliamentary scrutiny and shown an outrageous disregard for the rule of law.

Sign your name to help parliament take back control and scrutinise Johnson’s deal!

Brexit Reality: How’s it looking?

Brexit One Week On

A week ago the UK fully left the EU. The moment we all campaigned against, warned about and feared the consequences of became reality – and it’s every bit as bad as forecast.

This is a bad deal for Britain

As the realities this week show, this bad deal for Britain leaves us in a worse position than we held as a member of the EU. It is the first ever trade deal to increase barriers to trade. It turns us into rule takers rather than rule makers. And we have lost our precious, life-changing rights to freedom of movement.

If you want to find out more about what we have lost by leaving the EU, the EU has released this handy scorecard outlining the brutal reality of everything we have lost as a result of Brexit.

If you are not already a member, please join, and help us build back our relationships with the EU and get back those rights we have lost:

Please help us make our collective voice as loud as possible – share our Brexit Realities and ‘Brexit Bonus’ myth-busting blogpost with all your friends, family, and colleagues. Click below to share on:

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The personal and human relationships between us and our continental neighbours are priceless, writes Michael Heseltine, yet every abusive headline echoes across the channel

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