Many in the arts will look at 2022 with trepidation. There are still many issues with the Brexit deal from 12 months ago.

Following Brexit and then a pandemic, independent labels and artists were already being crippled by the costs and delays to their vinyl releases, now they have been compounded by major artists block booking pressing plants.

On trade, finance, migration, food standards and more, the UK suffers fresh ignominy on a daily basis.

As if the trials of coping with the pandemic weren’t enough to cause a deep depression, the opening months of 2021 saw a gathering storm for UK musicians as the country exited the European Union, thus opening the doors to a whirlwind of confusion, delays, unexpected price hikes and the promise of worse to come.

Saturday 20 February was the 50th day since Boris Johnson’s Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) came into effect. Anyone expecting it to settle all questions, or even most of the details, of how we will do business with the EU from now on will be mightily disappointed.

The sector, which relies on live events, lies bleeding and its future looks shaky. Our blinkered Government must act