The first Universal theme park in Europe will be built in the UK, Starmer has promised.
The attraction is planned for the site of a former brickworks near Bedford and could create an estimated 28,000 jobs before opening in 2031.
Universal estimated the 476-acre complex could attract 8.5 million visitors in its first year.
Sir Keir Starmer said the multibillion-pound investment by the company would “see Bedford home to one of the biggest entertainment parks in Europe, firmly putting the county on the global stage”.
“They don’t take that much interest in the announcements I’m making every day, I have to admit, but this one has really caught their eye,” said Starmer, speaking on a visit to Kimberley College in nearby Stewartby.
UK theme park reopen?
Perhaps, to reflect the times we are (still) living in, and to save building over prime land, we could just reopen Dismaland?
It was a temporary art project organised by street artist Banksy in the seaside resort of Weston-super-Mare in Somerset.
Prepared in secret, the pop-up exhibition at the Tropicana, a disused lido, was “a sinister twist on Disneyland” that opened during the weekend of 21 August 2015 and closed on 27 September 2015.
The event followed artistic themes of apocalypse, anti-consumerism, and pointed social critiques on celebrity culture, immigration, and law enforcement.
Ten years on and following, the exhibition remains as relevant as it was when it first opened in 2015. From the core themes of the artworks included to the sheer magnitude of the exhibit, Banksy’s dystopian theme park still matters as much as ever.
At the time, art producer, Kath Cockshaw, said: “I thought the work on show by Banksy and other artists was both reflective of some of the worst socio-political atrocities we are living through, and audacious in its message and production.”
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I mean even the Tories trolled it!
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Related: ‘You couldn’t make it up’ – Starmer’s new car policy slammed
