Why British musicians need a seat at the UK-EU reset table

The economic toll of post-Brexit touring is clear. Between 2022 and 2024, additional barriers cost the British music industry £208m in lost output and roughly 2,490 full-time jobs. A Musicians’ Union survey paints a stark picture: 75 percent of artists report fewer bookings, and more than half now view EU touring as financially unviable. While major acts can absorb the costs of permits and red tape, young ensembles and emerging performers—the lifeblood of future cultural exchange—are being priced out of the continent.

The case for cultural infrastructure

This friction extends to education, where the number of EU students entering UK higher education plummeted by 57 percent, dropping from 66,685 in 2020–21 to 28,375 in 2023–24. While the UK’s planned return to Erasmus+ in 2027 is a positive step, it must be matched by policies that treat cultural mobility as essential infrastructure rather than an administrative afterthought. Brussels is already investing heavily in this space, with the Creative Europe programme allocating €2.44bn for 2021–27 to support cross-border collaboration.

London and Brussels should use their high-level cultural dialogue to simplify touring requirements and ensure that the proposed Youth Experience Scheme explicitly covers paid artistic work. For a 24-year-old violinist, the difference between a thriving career and a stalled one often hinges on whether these bureaucratic hurdles can be cleared. Britain may have left the European Union, but its musicians remain deeply embedded in a continental ecosystem that predates modern treaties. Ensuring they can continue to work across borders is not about reclaiming lost privileges; it is about maintaining the professional connections that keep European culture vibrant.