Connect with us

Hi, what are you looking for?

Business

Festival of Brexit investigated by National Audit Office for ‘wasting £120m of taxpayer money’

The arts extravaganza once known as the Festival of Brexit is being investigated by the National Audit Office because MPs are alarmed by its “exorbitant” cost.

Unboxed, as it was renamed, should have entertained 66 million people this year, but by the end of August only 238,000 had attended events. The National Audit Office (NAO) has said £120 million was “frittered away”.

Projects supported by the festival included a virtual reality experience in which visitors pretend to be a transgender parent adopting a gender-fluid toddler, and an employment scheme called Tour de Moon that gave money to nightclub workers staging events in abandoned discotheques.

Other projects included turning an old oil rig in Weston-super-Mare into an art installation and a three-day music festival in Glasgow that taught people how to grow vegetables.

Its origins date to a speech by Theresa May to the Conservative Party conference in 2018. She promised to organise a carnival of “British creativity and innovation, culture and heritage” that would be inspired by the Great Exhibition of 1851 and the Festival of Britain in 1951.

After a campaign by Jacob Rees-Mogg for a public celebration to mark Britain’s departure from the EU, the event became popularly known as the “Festival of Brexit” .

To broaden its appeal, however, the man appointed to oversee the festival tried to depoliticise its agenda and it was renamed “Unboxed: Creativity in the UK”.

Martin Green, head of ceremonies for the London Olympics, said the festival would struggle to attract visitors if it were seen as overtly political and that it was “unfortunate” the festival had become associated with Brexit.

According to House magazine, he sought assurances from ministers, saying: “Can I ascertain it’s not a Brexit festival? You don’t want some kind of jingoistic jamboree?” As a result of the efforts to minimise its association with Britain’s vote to leave the EU, some of the artists, performers and musicians who ended up producing work for Unboxed had no idea that it was originally associated with Brexit.

Gareth Davies, head of the NAO, announced an inquiry into the festival after MPs on the digital, culture, media and sport committee demanded one. Davies said it would examine whether “political pressures kept the project alive” and if officials knew that the visitor estimates were unrealistic.

Julian Knight, who chairs the committee, said: “That such an exorbitant amount of public cash has been spent on a so-called celebration of creativity that has barely failed to register in the public consciousness raises serious red flags about how the project has been managed from conception through to delivery.”

The culture department said: “We do not agree with the select committee’s views.”

Read more:
Festival of Brexit investigated by National Audit Office for ‘wasting £120m of taxpayer money’

    You May Also Like

    Business

    1.22 billion people use Instagram every month. That’s a huge number of Instagrammers trying to hit it big on the platform all at the...

    Business

    The head of the International Monetary Fund has warned of increased risks to the stability of the financial system after weeks of banking sector...

    Business

    Since the rise of online casinos, cybersecurity has become a major concern for both casino operators and players alike. The transactions that go around...

    Business

    The Home Office has made next to no progress in tackling criminal fraud during the past five years, despite it having become Britain’s most...

    Disclaimer: rightdecisionnow.com, its managers, its employees, and assigns (collectively “The Company”) do not make any guarantee or warranty about what is advertised above. Information provided by this website is for research purposes only and should not be considered as personalized financial advice. The Company is not affiliated with, nor does it receive compensation from, any specific security. The Company is not registered or licensed by any governing body in any jurisdiction to give investing advice or provide investment recommendation. Any investments recommended here should be taken into consideration only after consulting with your investment advisor and after reviewing the prospectus or financial statements of the company.

    Copyright © 2023 rightdecisionnow.com | All Rights Reserved