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In the year 2022 a festival celebrating Great Britain and Northern Ireland is scheduled to take place, with the idea of former prime minister Theresa May designed to strengthen the bonds of the Union.

Boris Johnson has kept the idea and the festival will take place in Birmingham, making 2022 a busy year for the city as they will also be hosting the Commonwealth Games.

Critics deride the event as a "Brexit festival", an expensive extravagance glorifying something many in the UK think isn't all that glorious.

Is the festival a good idea, or will it fall flat?

The Claim

Festival director Martin Green is sure he can prove all the cynics and critics wrong, promising that it will be a celebration from which all can draw some amount of "joy, hope and happiness".

The aim of the festival is to bring Brits together and showcase the creative efforts of the UK. There are no specifics yet but Green has his big picture vision in place, hoping for a small number of big acts to be announced in 2021.

Green has a successful track record with similar events, having been Head of Ceremonies for the 2012 Olympics and director of Hull's successful bid to be the UK's City of Culture between 2017 and 2020. He is also creative director of Birmingham's 2022 Commonwealth Games.

Celebrations giving Britain's top creative talents a showcase for their efforts is surely to be applauded. With so many talented people involved the exhibits will likely be worth having a look at and help promote culture.

Green wants the festival to show off the creativity on offer across Britain and provide some common ground for a United Kingdom which has felt increasingly divided in recent years.

The Counter Claim

Mocked as a "festival of Brexit" ever since Theresa May first came up with the idea, there are plenty of Brits who just don't feel like celebrating.

The UK is deeply divided and plenty might not be in the mood for a festival celebrating the country when they're not feeling too satisfied with it themselves.

Celebrating the ties that bind the UK together looks a bit tone-deaf when Scotland appears to want to cut those ties and Brexit will strain the union with Northern Ireland.

Figures from arts institutions have concerns that about half their potential audience would be hostile to the festival if they see it as an attempt to celebrate post-Brexit Britain.

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There has been political opposition to the festival too. Liberal Democrat MP Layla Moran said she was "astounded" that the government was going forward with the £120million project when that money could be better spent elsewhere.

The timing of the festival is also a particular problem. Designed to strengthen the ties between Great Britain and Northern Ireland, it will clash with the anniversary of the Irish civil war.

Think tank British Future has described it as "the worst possible timing", warning that it would "heighten tensions between communities" and undermine the stated purpose of the festival.

The Facts

The festival is thought to be modeled on the Great Exhibition of 1851 and the Festival of Britain in 1951.

Theresa May first announced the plan at the Tory party conference in 2018, which was held in Birmingham. Boris Johnson had been advised to shelve the plans but instead pushed forward with them.

Despite criticising the timing of the festival, British Future found that around six in 10 Brits think it's a good idea overall and only one in 10 are strongly opposed to it. They suggested it could defy criticism and succeed, though warned there was also a risk of it becoming a "second Millennium Dome".