Julie Ward MEP: The creative industries – further proof Brexit is bad for the UK

With awards season in full swing and the Oscar nominations released earlier this week, the Arts can offer a good form of escapism away from the psychodrama that is the current state of UK politics. Yet the creative industries are at the very heart of why leaving the EU is such a bad prospect for the UK.

Britain is a leading force in Europe across sectors such as advertising, games development, music, film and fashion. The creative industries are estimated to be worth over £100bn to the UK economy, and growing at nearly twice the rate of the economy since 2010. They provide over 3.5 million jobs in the UK, which is a staggering one in 11 jobs across the country and one in eight businesses. The creative and cultural industries were among the most resilient during the financial crash, but will be among the most impacted by Brexit.

Britain currently leads the way in the audiovisual media sector (AVMS), which itself contributes over £15bn to the Exchequer. Across most of the creative industry sectors, the UK’s place as the European hub is in danger due to Brexit. President Macron wrote last week to the Coalition française pour la diversité culturelle (French coalition for cultural diversity) reaffirming that France would have a “continued commitment to the exclusion of audiovisual services from free trade agreements”, especially a “desire to obtain an explicit mention of this “cultural exception” in the European Union’s trade negotiation mandate with Great Britain”.

The Prime Minister’s red lines on Brexit are not only putting her own career in jeopardy, but also the careers of those in this sector. By trying to take the UK out of the single market, customs union and digital single market (DSM), she risks alienating talent while stifling innovation and losing trade, funding and influence.

With the immigration white paper stating that free movement will end and that the minimum annual earnings for the granting of a work visa will be over £30,000 per year, the government is putting hundreds of thousands of jobs at risk. The UK digital, culture, media and sport committee warned that this would be a folly to implement, stating: “We believe that salary levels are a crude proxy for value and fail to recognise the central role that workers from the EU and beyond play in making British businesses successful.”

The Creative Industries Foundation (CIF) highlighted that 96% of its membership was concerned about the restriction of ‘free movement of talent’ post-Brexit. Many in the AVMS sector collaborate with other creatives and organisations across EU member states.

As Prime Minister, David Cameron proclaimed: “Given that Britain has a leading role in music, film, television and the creative industries, completing the digital market is as important to us as completing the single market in cars is to Germany. It is absolutely vital to us.” And yet another Conservative government red line is for the UK to be outside of the DSM. The European Commission values a fully functioning DSM at €500bn – worth an additional €415bn to the EU economy. But the UK-EU Withdrawal Agreement fails to mention the DSM, with only a mere sentence on audiovisual services.

EU funding of €16.6m, through Creative Europe, benefitted the UK’s audiovisual, creative and cultural industries in 2017 through non-repayable grants and the distribution of British films in other countries, totalling €74m support to the UK from 2014 to date. Creative Europe has also generated over €20m in match-funding, while MEDIA beneficiaries in the UK leveraged match-funding worth nearly €120m.

Regulatory alignment and harmonisation will be a major factor if the AVMS sector is to survive post-Brexit. In a no-deal Brexit, key aspects of the EU’s terms of trade cannot simply be cut and pasted for the UK. Important elements would therefore need to be negotiated, which cannot now not be done before March 29th, causing huge disruptions. 40% of the UK’s creative industries stressed that ‘no deal’ would harm their ability to export, while 21% would – in the event of no deal – consider moving all or part of their businesses abroad. Many have already left, including companies from my own North West England region.

Under an EEA/Norway-style agreement, the UK would be required to have a “mirror system” and legal mechanism in order to align with EU rules – without having any say over those rules. Just how this mechanism would be implemented is completely unknown. Now more than ever, we must consult with experts and stakeholders. Given the impasse in parliament, which is incapable of getting a majority deal through, Britain cannot Brexit stage left. We now must have one more act, giving the people the final say.

Julie Ward is a Labour MEP for North West England.