Thread by @pmdfoster

Another head-banging day for the £112bn UK creative sector that is starting to ingest how difficult #Brexit is going to make their lives - and how little the government is really willing to do to fix the lack of a 'mobility' chapter in the EU-UK trade deal. Quick update.../1

First Equity @EquityUK put out a letter to @BorisJohnson warning that #brexit was a "towering hurdle" (you'd want Brian Blessed reading that part) to UK actors plying their trade in EU - a double whammy with #COVID19 /2

equity.org.uk/news/2021/febr…

@EquityUK @BorisJohnson One third of Equity members say they've seen job ads asking for EU passport holders: "Before, we were able to travel to Europe visa-free. Now we have to pay hundreds of pounds, fill in form after form, and spend weeks waiting for approval" /3

@EquityUK @BorisJohnson Worth recalling that all this goes back to the UK desire NOT to have a 'mobility' provision within the TCA - all part of 'ending Free Movement' and the professional services folk - including musicians, actors, fashion models etc -are all victim of that/4

politico.eu/article/uk-rej…

@EquityUK @BorisJohnson What's the government going to do about all this? Good question, which brings us to todays @CommonsDCMS hearing in which the Culture Minister Caroline Dinenage @cj_dinenage frankly pin-balled around the issues /5

@EquityUK @BorisJohnson @CommonsDCMS @cj_dinenage Have a listen, if you like from around 11.27 minutes when @DamianGreen asks her what the government is up to....given that the creative industries have been handed what he termed a "no deal" #Brexit...the minister is clearly struggling /6

parliamentlive.tv/Event/Index/4b…

@EquityUK @BorisJohnson @CommonsDCMS @cj_dinenage @DamianGreen She starts be accepting that the EU & UK aren't going to renegotiate the TCA which (for reasons above) has no visa waiver agreement or joint declaration on exempt categories (sports, arts etc) ...so we're not going back there.../7

@EquityUK @BorisJohnson @CommonsDCMS @cj_dinenage @DamianGreen Which then raised question of striking bilateral deals with the EU...which the minister said the UK was keen to do...and then quickly said it was "very difficult"...admitting no talks had actually started...tho officials say they are prioritising targets nations/8

@EquityUK @BorisJohnson @CommonsDCMS @cj_dinenage @DamianGreen The question is whether EU member states and the EU Commission are going to allow individual member states to be picked off by the UK in separate mobility packages, on UK terms - it feels like a long shot on both fronts tbh. /9

@EquityUK @BorisJohnson @CommonsDCMS @cj_dinenage @DamianGreen The musicians industry body @ISM_music boss @DeborahAnnetts says they have a scheme that - from the sounds of it - would narrowly grant visa-waiver to musicians (who face £600 bill for single gig in Spain) but minister @cj_dinenage sounded sceptical (probably rightly)/10

@EquityUK @BorisJohnson @CommonsDCMS @cj_dinenage @DamianGreen @ISM_music @DeborahAnnetts The over-riding impression is that the government doesn't really have answers...which may explain why @FashionRoundTab haven't even had a reply to their letter of two weeks ago, per @TamaraCincik - the government doesn't really anywhere to go /11

@EquityUK @BorisJohnson @CommonsDCMS @cj_dinenage @DamianGreen @ISM_music @DeborahAnnetts @FashionRoundTab @TamaraCincik But this stuff is going to affect huge numbers of not-so-glamorous creatives - like the group of textile designers led by @DesignersGuild boss Simon Jeffreys who wrote to @BorisJohnson explaining how the deal was hitting his business /12

@EquityUK @BorisJohnson @CommonsDCMS @cj_dinenage @DamianGreen @ISM_music @DeborahAnnetts @FashionRoundTab @TamaraCincik @DesignersGuild They've fallen victim to the Rules of Origin hubbing issue - they print textiles in EU, have them shipped to UK...but now of course they can't ship them back to the EU without incurring tariffs. Solution? Open distro in the Netherlands.... /13

@EquityUK @BorisJohnson @CommonsDCMS @cj_dinenage @DamianGreen @ISM_music @DeborahAnnetts @FashionRoundTab @TamaraCincik @DesignersGuild A lot of this pain is masked by #COVID19 - there are no concerts, fashion shows, tourism etc - which gives the govt some breathing space. But ultimately the deal is what it is - no one should expect miracles. ENDS