Culture bid falls victim to Brexit backlash
UK cities ‘barred from being European capital’
YORKSHIRE LAST night became the first major casualty of the Brexit fallout after Brussels officials apparently pulled the plug on Leeds’s potentially lucrative European Capital of Culture bid for 2023.
Politicians have reacted with fury to the news, which came just weeks after Leeds submitted its entry, and only four days before the judging panel was due to meet with the five competing UK cities.
Leeds has spent three years, and more than £500,000 of public money, on preparing its entry. When Liverpool hosted the title in 2008, it enjoyed a 34 per cent increase in visitors resulting in an economic boost of over £750m.
Coun Judith Blake, leader of Leeds Council, said she was “hugely frustrated” by the move to bar UK cities.
“This announcement, made after cities have submitted their 80-page bids and just four working days before the city was due to meet with the panel, is shocking,” she said. “As a city, we have pursued this title with enthusiasm, diligence and determination, following the process to the letter throughout and to have the rug pulled from under us at this late stage would be a huge blow.”
Leeds Central MP Hilary Benn, who also chairs the parliamentary Brexit select committee, said the about-turn was “inexplicable given that in the past, Bergen and Istanbul have both been awarded the title even though neither Turkey nor Norway are members of the European Union”.
“The European Commission must now explain why it has decided to engage in blatant discrimination against the bid from Leeds,” he said.
A spokesperson for the Department of Culture, Media and Sport said Ministers were “deeply disappointed” that Brussels had waited until now to “communicate its new position”.
However a European Commission spokesman insisted the decision to ban UK countries from the competition – which comes almost 18 months after the EU referendum – was “one of the many concrete consequences” of Brexit. “UK participation is no longer possible. It therefore makes sense to discontinue the selection process,” he said.
He stressed countries eligible to host the European Capital of Culture are EU member states, candidates to join and nations which are in the EEA (European Economic Area) and EFTA (European Free Trade Association). Talks about the UK’s exact future trade relations with the continent are yet to begin.
As well as Leeds, Nottingham, Milton Keynes, Dundee and a joint Belfast-Londonderry-Strabane bid were all in the running for the accolade. Arts Minister John Glen last night hit out at the “crazy decision by (the) European Commission”. And Shadow Culture Secretary Tom Watson described the commission’s decision to “shun” the UK as a “great shame”. “The Government must now explain how they intend to ensure that Brexit does not leave us culturally isolated from Europe and how the economic and cultural benefits that accompany [the title] will be maintained,” he said.
To have the rug pulled from under us would be a huge blow. Coun Judith Blake on Leed’s bid to be European Capital of Culture.
EVEN THOUGH it was widely accepted that a British city would become European Capital of Culture in 2023, there was always a likelihood that a way – or excuse – would be found to scupper this.
This appears to have been borne out by a leaked letter from EU director-general for education and culture Martine Reicherts, which says the country is barred as a result of last year’s Brexit vote.
It’s no consolation to those UK cities, like Leeds, that have spent up to four years finessing their bids – the West Yorkshire city’s glitzy official launch took place just weeks ago and £1m has been spent by the public and private sector thus far. It’s to be hoped these efforts don’t go to waste.
Not only does the decision smack of petty vindictiveness – non-EU cities have been afforded Capital of Culture status in the past – but it fails to recognise the power of the arts to bring countries and communities together.
As Hull continues to demonstrate during its incredibly successful stint as the current UK City of Culture, there are no boundaries – political, economic or social – when it comes to creative ingenuity and using tourism as a lever for economic regeneration.
After all, Britain will not be leaving Europe on March 29, 2019. It’s only breaking away from the Brussels bureaucrats and many will say that this fit of pique, symptomatic of the EU’s control-freakery, justifies the electorate’s decision.