Brexit fears ahead of launch of 70th birthday Fringe

● Long-standing promoter fears entire ethos of festival is at risk

The entire ethos of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe is under threat from Brexit as it marks its 70th anniversary, according to one of its most experienced promoters.

William Burdett-coutts, founder of the Assembly Rooms venue, said the “bedrock” of the festival could be destroyed unless its international flavour is preserved.

He warned that the Fringe, which was first staged in the aftermath of the Second Word War, faces being diminished and becoming more inwardlooking as the UK comes out of the European Union.

He raised concerns over festival workers, performers and companies being put off coming to Edinburgh by the “tone” of the debate on Britain’s withdrawal from the EU.

And he admitted there was huge uncertainty over how much red tape artists would face under new immigration and visa rules.

Mr Burdett-coutts said: “The whole tone of Brexit is making people think twice about coming to this country, certainly for work, and I get concerned about how that will impact on cultural events. The whole move to coming out of Europe is about making it more difficult for people to come here.

“At the moment it is fairly easy for companies to come

0 Brexit ‘poses a threat to Fringe’s international standing’ into the country, but that may change. We’ve done such a good job in attracting people to Edinburgh – the last thing we want to do is put them off.

“The strength of the festival is the number of different people from around the world who come here. Continuing that is the key bedrock of the Fringe. International shows used to be a rarity, but today there is a huge amount of international work.

“We need to get public bodies to stand up and support the Fringe, say how important it is that people keep coming and also making sure that the status of the festival doesn’t change.

“Symbolically, Brexit is one of the biggest issues facing the festival. If it became more inwardlooking it would destroy its ethos, which is about goodwill between nations.”