EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement

Lord Jones of Cheltenham Excerpts

Friday 8th January 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord Jones of Cheltenham (LD) [V]]

My Lords, I will ask the Minister to answer some very simple questions about musicians wishing to tour in Europe, because the deal document is far from clear. A friend of mine, Robert Henrit, is a drummer who honed his technique in the 1960s and 1970s playing with many rock stars who became household names, including Cliff Richard, Adam Faith, Jimi Hendrix, the Kinks, Argent and Don McLean. He still performs today, more than 60 years since he first started playing the washboard.

Robert remembers what things were like touring Europe before we joined the then Common Market. In those days you never knew how long it would take to cross a national border. It all depended on the customs officials. Robert tells me that, if they did not like the look of you, they could take several hours, or sometimes a day or more, to process your passports and inspect the carnets specifying what equipment you were carrying. If they really did not like the look of you, they would unload your equipment and take it apart to make sure there was nothing inside not listed on the carnet. He recalls his precious drum equipment being unloaded into the snow on one occasion. On those occasions, once the customs officers were satisfied, you were free to go, but you had to reassemble your own equipment.

Once we joined the EU, everything was different. There were smiles, and the stars and their equipment were just waved through the border. Sometimes they stopped for a comfort break and to sign a few autographs. I and Robert would like to know how things will change now we have left the European Union. How much will a carnet really cost? What about insurance? What other costs will be imposed? Together, these could make touring economically unviable. Will there be a limit on how many countries bands can visit during a tour? Often a tour takes in several countries. Will touring be as easy as it was when we were in the EU, or will we be back in what Robert calls “fiasco land”?