Major UK festivals associated with Barclays remove sponsorship amid boycott
Following the controversy surrounding the affiliation of Great Escape Festival with banking sponsor Barclays, several other festivals have come under scrutiny. Over the past couple of weeks, major artists across several UK festivals, including Download, Latitude and the Isle of Wight, have launched boycotts.
In 2023, Barclays signed a five-year sponsorship deal with Live Nation UK. In a recent development, following pleas and boycott threats from significant artists, Live Nation has announced: “Following discussion with artists, we have agreed with Barclays that they will step back from sponsorship of our festivals.”
The events management giant noted that the suspension does not apply to the entire contract at this juncture. “Barclays was asked and has agreed to suspend participation in the remaining Live Nation festivals in 2024,” a Barclays spokesperson added in a statement to The Guardian. “Barclays customers who hold tickets to these festivals are not affected, and their tickets remain valid.”
The spokesperson noted that, while Barclays has acquiesced to the mounting pressure, the bank will remain committed to the activity with which many have taken issue in recent months. “The protesters’ agenda is to have Barclays debank defence companies, which is a sector we remain committed to as an essential part of keeping this country and our allies safe,” they added.
Why are people boycotting Barclays?
The recent boycotts were initiated amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Palestine. Since the outset of the conflict, the division has spread around the world, leading to significant protests on both sides. Barclays has been criticised by pro-Palestine campaigners who call into question its alleged investment in nine defence companies supplying the Israeli forces.
The Palestine Solidarity Campaign has called for a boycott of Barclays, citing its “grave complicity in Israel’s attacks on Palestinians”. They allege that Barclays “now holds over £2bn in shares and provides £6.1bn in loans and underwriting” to nine companies supplying Israel with arms for use against Palestinians. Similar calls for a boycott have been made by the Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement.
Barclays has also responded to the broader boycotts, attempting to explain its involvement with defence companies. “We have been asked why we invest in nine defence companies supplying Israel, but this mistakes what we do,” they wrote in a new statement. “We trade in shares of listed companies in response to client instruction or demand, and that may result in us holding shares. Whilst we provide financial services to these companies, we are not making investments for Barclays, and Barclays is not a ‘shareholder’ or ‘investor’ in that sense in relation to these companies.”
Referencing the Israeli defence company Elbit directly, the spokesperson added: “We may hold shares in relation to client-driven transactions, which is why we appear on the share register, but we are not investors.”
Finally, they added a note regarding the legal framework and guidelines set by the UK Government. “The UK government said that supporting high-quality, well-run defence companies is compatible with ESG [Environmental, Social and Governance] considerations. It is the role of government to decide foreign policy and laws which restrict the delivery of weapons to any one country,” they claimed.
Over the past couple of weeks, pro-Palestine have allegedly vandalised around 20 Barclays branches around the UK, including graffiti and smashed windows. “They have resorted to intimidating our staff, repeated vandalism of our branches and online harassment,” Barclays stated in response to the protests. “The only thing that this small group of activists will achieve is to weaken essential support for cultural events enjoyed by millions. It is time that leaders across politics, business, academia and the arts stand united against this.”
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