May plans ‘Festival of Britain’ to boost post-Brexit pride
THERESA MAY plans to evoke the spirit of the famous 1951 Festival of Britain with a £120 million nationwide celebration after Brexit.
Scheduled for 2022, the event – also inspired by the Great Exhibition of 1851 – will be used to project a proud post-Brexit Britain around the globe.
Speaking as the Tory conference opened in Birmingham, the Prime Minister boasted that the festival would showcase the best of the nation’s talent in business, technology, arts and sport to the rest of the world.
And, with events set to take place in every nation and region of the UK, Mrs May raised hopes that the celebration would generate billions of pounds of i nvestment for Britain and Northern Ireland.
She said: ‘Almost 70 years ago, the Festival of Britain stood as a symbol of change. Britain once again stands on the cusp of a new future as an outwardfacing, global trading nation.
‘And, just as millions of Britons celebrated their nation’s great achievements in 1951, we want to showcase what makes our country great today.’
The announcement may spark criticism that Mrs May is trying to distract from mounting disunity over Brexit in her own party, and speculation over whether she will still be in the post in 2022 – the date of the next General Election.
There are also suggestions that the idea has been hastily dreamt up, with Culture Secretary Jeremy Wright reportedly only asking Cabinet colleagues for their views on the festival just a few days ago.
But Mrs May hailed it as the chance ‘to mark this moment of national renewal with a once-ina-generation celebration’.
It would also be an event that ‘strengthens our precious union and promotes the UK as the most creative and innovative nation in the world’.
To be known simply as ‘The Festival’, it will build on major events already taking place that year, including the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham and the 75th anniversary of the Edinburgh International Festival. It would also coincide with the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee.
A new delivery body will be set up to co-ordinate the event under a creative director, who will work alongside Mr Wright’s department.
Mrs May said that more than £120 million would be set aside in advance to plan the event, which is expected to generate billions for the UK economy. Her officials pointed to the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, which secured £28 billion of investment.
Mr Wright was quoted as telling colleagues the event would tell ‘ a story about the UK’s unique strengths, particularly as a place to invest’.
IN THE Great Exhibition of 1851, and again a century later in the Festival of Britain, this country showed the world its inventive brilliance, its energy, industry and unique spirit.
Now there are plans to do so again, just four years from now. It is a great moment for such a display, just as we regain our national independence.
Our inventors, scientists, industrialists and artists will once again have an opportunity to show just how much talent and enterprise these small islands contain.