Government urged to save Notting Hill Carnival: ‘Insult to injury’

LocalPolitics
22 Jun 2025 • 4:47 PM MYT
The Independent
The Independent

The world’s most free-thinking newspaper

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  • Notting Hill Carnival's future is uncertain, with its chairman, Ian Comfort, requesting urgent government funding from Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy to save the event.
  • Campaigners, including human rights lawyer Jacqueline McKenzie, emphasize the carnival's "huge national and international significance" and its deep connection to the Windrush generation, urging the government to protect it.
  • The potential loss of the carnival, founded by Caribbean pioneers, is seen as adding "insult to injury" for victims of the Windrush scandal, especially as concerns coincide with Windrush Day.
  • Professor Patrick Vernon, a cultural historian, highlights the carnival as a vital cultural institution and the world's second-largest, representing London's diversity and Black British identity.
  • A government spokesman acknowledged the carnival as an "important community event" and stated that organisers should collaborate with local authorities and police to ensure safety.

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