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Jamie Stone launches petition to cancel 'festival of Brexit'


By Alan Hendry

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Brexit is a calamity for Britain, says Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross MP Jamie Stone.
Brexit is a calamity for Britain, says Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross MP Jamie Stone.

Local MP Jamie Stone has launched a petition calling for the UK government's "Brexit festival" to be scrapped.

Festival UK 2022 is a £120 million nationwide programme planned for next year and intended to celebrate creativity and innovation.

But Mr Stone, who is the Liberal Democrats' spokesperson for digital, culture, media and sport, wants it to be cancelled with the money redirected to a Covid-19 recovery fund.

The Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross MP said: "Britain's culture calamity is real thanks to Brexit, yet the taxpayer is being asked to cough up £120 million for bread and circuses.

"Frankly, I thought this Brexit festival was sick before a pandemic – but given we've got kids starving, carers suffering on a minimum wage and millions of people out of work and locked out of financial support, well, it's testament to how skewed the Tory moral compass really is.

"I hope people will support my call to cancel this insulting Brexit festival – regardless of how they voted in the referendum – and for the money to be redirected to a Covid-19 recovery fund."

The petition can be accessed here.

The Festival UK 2022 website promises "10 open, original, optimistic, large-scale and extraordinary acts of public engagement that will showcase the UK's creativity and innovation to the world".


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