Brexit minister insists the musician touring crisis is not his problem

During a select committee meeting, Frost told MPs that responsibility sits with the Culture and Transport secretaries. Confronted and pushed for comment on whether his department should deal with the issue, he said: “We hope to be able to deliver some results.” 

In March, Boris Johnson said that his aides were working ‘flat out’ to ensure a swift solution to the crisis, stating: “David Frost – Lord Frost – is in overall charge of making this happen.” 

Lord Frost has come under scrutiny from Elton John. He told The Guardian that current visa costs and red tape were ‘crucifying’ to young artists. 

“People like me can afford to go to Europe because we can get people to fill in the forms and get visas done, but what makes me crazy is that the entertainment business brings in £111 billion a year to this country, and we were just tossed away.” 

He went on to say: 

“We’ve been talking to Lord Strasburger about it in the Lords, and we’ve been talking to [chief negotiator for Taskforce Europe] Lord Frost, but we didn’t get anywhere with him.” 

Frost decided to comment on the singer’s criticism during the meeting, saying that Brexit was irrelevant to Sir Elton because he “had his first hits before the UK even became a member of the European Union”. 

Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke stoked the fire further by retweeting an article from the Independent, adding: “Oh yeah pal, you think?” 

oh yeah pal? you think ?.. https://t.co/5DMV9pEia2

— Thom Yorke (@thomyorke) June 29, 2021

The Independent has reported that The Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS) is currently responsible for negotiating terms for touring artists with the EU – despite having little to no leverage to do so.

The online newspaper added that ‘no approach had been made’ to lift current visa requirements with the Bloc.