Artists from outside the European Economic Area will be subject to a points-based scheme to qualify for entry, and many will have to get a biometric visa. It will add many more financial and bureaucratic hurdles to British arts organisations. Each artist in a visiting dance troupe, opera company or orchestra will have to individually attend a British consulate to obtain a visa, surrendering their passports for a few days, and then get it renewed after six months... These barriers will diminish the artistic vibrancy and the richness of British cultural life. The Home Office states that the new scheme will “ensure [that] UK borders are open to people who bring talent, business and creativity, but closed to those who might cause harm or come here illegally”. But it is hard to imagine a group of people to whom this applies more directly than the international artists who perform with our companies and on our stages.

Excerpted from a comment by Tony Hall in ‘The Times’