MPs say the ‘festival of Brexit’ appears destined for failure – should we really be surprised?

The Culture Select Committee has called plans an ‘irresponsible use of public money’. As with much of Brexit, it’s hard to avoid wondering whether this is what anyone had in mind in the first place, says Jon Stone

The ‘festival of Brexit’ has had a number of names (PA Archive)

Remember the 'festival of Brexit'? Believe it or not, it is currently underway. 'UNBOXED: Creativity in the UK', to give the event its official name, kicked off on 1 March in Paisley.

You could have been forgiven for not noticing: despite the idea having had its genesis in government, ministers have been surprisingly quiet about the whole affair. The original idea, inaugurated by Theresa May, was for something resembling the Festival of Britain after the Second World War – but staged to mark the UK's departure from the EU.

Latterly, the event's organisers have sought to downplay the Brexit link and explicitly rejected the Festival of Brexit description. That moniker was coined in the project's early stages by Jacob Rees-Mogg, who is now minister for Brexit opportunities.

The show had already has its name changed from the utilitarian and geographically accurate 'Festival of Great Britain and Northern Ireland' to 'Festival UK* 2022', a moniker which notably featured an unpronounceable asterisk.

Its current rather creative name is perhaps the most impenetrable, because without assistance and context it is difficult to work out that it refers to an event at all. Maybe a book? Maybe a film? MPs on the Culture Select Committee have helpfully criticised the plans for the festival as "vague" and said it seemed destined for failure. “The desire for it to seemingly cater to everyone, everywhere, is a recipe for failure and investing £120m in something when the government, by their own admission, 'did not know what it was' is an irresponsible use of public money," the committee said.

It is, to be fair, quite difficult to work out what it is from the promotional website.

The Department for Culture, Media, and Sport's response was essentially: "We disagree with the committee's findings."

During the design process, early visions that the great festival might involve lots of union flags and bunting have given way to something more rooted in showcasing the UK's creative industries. The result seems to be less a festival or Great Exhibition (to which Theresa May compared the original idea when launching) but an umbrella brand for a number of smaller artistic events taking place across different corners of Britain.

The plan was perhaps nudged in that direction by two government priorities: the wish to sell 'Global Britain' abroad, and "levelling up". The former priority is probably why the project has ended up as a self-conscious celebration of British soft power and creative industrial might, rather than just simple old-fashioned day out. The latter priority seems to have ensured that the event is not just being held at a large exhibition centre in London, where tourists would be most likely to see it – but be scattered across the whole UK.

As with so much of Brexit it's hard to avoid wondering whether this is what anyone had in mind in the first place. The event's organisers were probably hoping for a bit more publicity from the politicians who came up with the idea in the first place. Indeed, a few months ago the timing of UNBOXED: Creativity in the UK probably looked rather fortuitous: the Covid-19 pandemic was finally receding and the public were about to emerge, blinking into the sunlight, to enjoy a nationwide festival.

However, a spanner has been thrown into the works by the Russian invasion of Ukraine – which has rightly dominated the news for a month. It would be a brave politician indeed who would want to be accused of indulging in Brexit boosterism in the middle of an international crisis. The result has been radio silence from Westminster.

With all that in mind, if you cut away the politics of the whole thing, a massive £120m programme of free arts events across the UK is generally a good thing. It is a shame that it seems that message has been undercut and diluted by poor planning.