Brexit Museum launches £650,000 fundraising campaign to get off the ground after it is awarded charitable status – but backers still don’t know where the ‘balanced’ venue will be based

• Brexit Museum has been granted charitable status, five years after referendum
• Museum now starting fundraising drive to buy building and start its collection
• Backers insist it will be ‘balanced’ and will ‘preserve tremendous story’ of Brexit 

A museum dedicated to the UK’s divorce from the EU has taken a significant step towards getting off the ground after it was awarded charitable status and began a £650,000 fundraising drive. 

Backers of the Brexit Museum are seeking £400,000 in donations to buy a building to house exhibits and a further £250,000 to set up and run the venue. 

The architects of the project insist the museum is necessary to ‘preserve’ the ‘tremendous story’ of Britain’s split from Brussels. 

They have also stressed that the venue will be ‘balanced’ in its approach to the subject. 

However, it is still unclear where the museum will actually be based, with a number of locations said to be in the running.  

The Brexit Museum has launched a £650,000 fundraising campaign after it was awarded charitable status. A Remain supporter is pictured in Westminster in January 2019

The museum will look at the UK’s relationship with the EU prior to the 2016 referendum, the campaign itself,  and the aftermath of the Brexit vote. Theresa May is pictured in Brussels in November 2018 while Nigel Farage is picture in Westminster in January 2019

The awarding of charitable status to the Brexit Museum comes almost five years after the EU referendum was held in June 2016. 

Alex Deane, one of the Museum’s trustees, said: ‘There is a tremendous story behind this that deserves to be preserved. Unless we act fast, much of the material from the referendum will be lost. 

‘Gaps will then be filled with misperceptions, fake news, and myth. Our objective is to plug that gap at the time when it is easiest, right now while memories are fresh, attics are still filled recruiting with treasures, and before items and stories get lost.

‘To achieve this we need to appeal to the people whose work must be remembered. Our immediate target is to raise £400,000 to purchase a property, at which point the project can become a bricks and mortar entity. 

‘The next target is to raise a further £250,000 to set up the museum. This includes staff with the appropriate curatorial, archiving and administrative backgrounds.’  

The museum’s website insists it will examine the circumstances surrounding the UK’s departure from the EU in a ‘balanced way’. 

The website states: ‘There were two sides to the 2016 Brexit debate, and both need to be explored. The deeper story of Euroscepticism itself can only be understood in context, as a response to European integration happening in parallel and for its own reasons. Those stories need to be investigated fairly and in a balanced way.’

It remains unclear where the museum will be located but The Telegraph reported that locations in the Midlands, including Dudley and Boston which voted heavily to Leave the EU, are in the running.

The museum’s website said that ‘Brexit was not a London phenomenon’ and 14 criteria will be used to determine a location. 

The Museum is also seeking contributions of Brexit-related items of historic significance. Boris Johnson is pictured in November 2019

The criteria include the need for it to be an urban setting, an area of the country where it will be supported, and somewhere with strong transport links.

As well as donations, the museum is also asking people to donate Brexit-related items of historic significance. 

Lord Lawson, the Tory former Chancellor of the Exchequer, has backed the project and said: ‘The debate about the United Kingdom’s evolving relationship with its neighbours, and its place in the world, has been of critical national significance. 

‘We need to capture those records and stories for posterity.’

Lord Owen, former Labour foreign secretary, added: ‘This is an important initiative recognised by the Charity Commission and I encourage everyone to contribute.’

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