£116m Brexit festival saw just a fraction of visitors and income predicted

Final evaluation of Unboxed science and arts festival says it failed to reach ‘public awareness’

At a cost of £116.8m to the taxpayer, the Unboxed science and arts festival was supposed to bring the UK together in a post-Brexit love-fest and enhance our international reputation – to “showcase what makes our country great today”.

The final evaluation, however, has found that the festival, commissioned by Theresa May in 2018 and christened a “festival of Brexit” by Jacob Rees-Mogg, brought together a fraction of the audiences hoped for and generated a fraction of the financial benefit that was predicted.