All tax collected from Concert for Ukraine ticket sales will be donated to the charity appeal, the chancellor announced yesterday.
Concert for Ukraine is to be hosted by ITV, with all funds going towards the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal.
The government donation will amount to £100,000. This comes on top of £25m in match-funding for the DEC appeal when it was first announced three weeks ago. The treasury recorded that the government has given £220m in aid for Ukraine.
Rishi Sunak, chancellor of the exchequer, said: “The British people have shown incredible generosity by donating millions of pounds to the Ukraine humanitarian appeal and I’m delighted to be able to pledge our support to this event and its worthy cause by donating the cost of VAT on ticket sales.
“We stand shoulder to shoulder with the people of Ukraine and will do everything we can to support them.”
So far, the DEC's Ukraine appeal has raised £202m in three weeks.
During his spring statement speech, earlier this week, Sunak linked the conflict in Ukraine to the cost of living crisis in the UK.
He said: “Russia’s invasion of Ukraine will push inflation to a 40-year high of almost 9%, and living standards are set for a historic fall over the next 12 months.”
However, Rachel Reeves, Labour's shadow chancellor said that “the cost of living crisis predates Putin's invasion of Ukraine”.
Concert for Ukraine
The concert boasts appearances from Ed Sheeran, Camila Cabello, Emeli Sandé, Gregory Porter and Snow Patrol. More acts have been added to the line-up, including Becky Hill and Nile Rodgers.
The event takes place in Birmingham next Tuesday and will be hosted by Roman Kemp, Marvin Humes and Emma Bunton.
The show will be broadcast live across ITV’s platforms and will be produced by LiveWire Pictures Global. Media & Entertainment Group and Marks & Spencer have been confirmed as headline sponsors.
All sponsorship and advertising from the broadcast will be donated to the DEC appeal, which is expected to amount to over £3m.
Camila Cabello said: “My heart is breaking for the people of Ukraine. As refugees from Ukraine join millions of other displaced people around the globe, we all have a responsibility. One of the biggest needs is to get funds to organisations who can serve these communities directly, so we’re focusing our efforts on doing that as quickly as we can.”
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