The United Kingdom’s government has rejected demands to reach an agreement with the European Union to allow visa-free travel for musicians, post-Brexit, stressing that “taking back control of borders” should be Britain’s first priority.

The Brexit agreement between Britain and the European Union, which was put

in place on January 1 permits European Union citizens to enter the UK as a tourist for more than six months, while Britons musical bands can tour Europe only if they first obtain a visa for that purpose, SchengenVisaInfo.com reports.

Britain’s decision to officially get out of the European Union’s single market and end free movement no longer permits the UK musicians and crews to guarantee visa-free travel and will need additional work permits to play in some European countries.

Tours in some European Union countries, like Denmark, Italy and Spain require additional permits, as the rules differ from one country to another.

In this regard, culture minister Caroline Dinenage stressed that talks with the European Union on the matter would resume only if “Brussels changes its mind” about how to resolve the stalemate.

“That is just simply not compatible with our manifesto commitment to taking back control of our borders,” she pointed out.

London and Brussels have continuously sparked controversy regarding the failure of reaching an agreement which would permit visa-free travel for musicians.

“During our negotiations, we proposed measures to allow creative professionals to travel and perform in both the UK and EU, without needing work-permits. Unfortunately, the EU rejected these proposals,” the UK government pointed out.

Anyway, such accusations were denied by European Union officials. An EU source stressed that Britain was the one who rejected the offer of visa-free tours in Europe.

The video director Tim Brennan initiated an online petition demanding visa-free travel throughout the European Union for bands, musicians, TV and sports celebrities, to facilitate their movement.

The petition up to this point has been signed by more than 276,370 persons, including famous actors, musicians and comedians of the United Kingdom, calling on the country’s government to allow them to perform freely in the European Union countries.