Please click here to see Rupa’s comment on Politics Home.

Rupa Huq, a Labour member of the DCMS Committee, told PoliticsHome: “The government’s spectacularly botched ‘Festival of Brexit’ has proven itself to be a complete waste of £120m worth of taxpayers’ money in the midst of a cost of living crisis.

“The DCMS Committee did an investigation into this now proven turkey last year and predicted it would be a failure. These worse-than-expected metrics mean that the Culture Secretary needs to come before the DCMS Committee and explain how spending on this unnoticed festival can possibly be justified as so few people have even heard of the Unboxed festival, let alone attended events.

“At a time when millions of people are facing hardship due to rising costs, including creatives who weren’t supported during the pandemic, and at a time when the creative arts industries are suffering the consequences of people having less disposable income, the government shouldn’t have been going ahead with this self-indulgent pet project.”