The Voice coach Anne-Marie says tours could be 'nightmare' because of Brexit

The Voice coach Anne- Marie says tours will be a “nightmare” without new European visa arrangements.

The singer’s close friend Ed Sheeran was one of 100 musicians along with Sir Elton John and The Who’s Roger Daltrey who signed a letter accusing the Government of “shamefully failing” musicians following Brexit.

The letter called on the Government to “urgently do what it said it would do and negotiate paperwork-free travel”.

Anne-Marie says: “It’s a nightmare – I don’t see why it should be. Everyone is going to keep fighting for it. Hopefully, it will change.”

With a huge following in East Asia, Anne-Marie says she hasn’t had to worry about any red tape before. “We’ve never experienced that,” she says. “It’s always been super-easy – though obviously, in some countries, you need visas.”

Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden will be discussing the issue with music industry representatives on Wednesday.

In the meantime, artists are struggling to even plan shows. “It’s pretty rubbish,” continues Anne-Marie, 29. “But I guess it’s something that we will never take for granted. We’ll never moan if we have to fly to another country!”

The singer made the best of it on the weekend, kicking it off in style by drinking wine, whisky, vodka and a Malibu and Coke on the BBC’s Saturday Kitchen Live. At 11.30am she admitted on social media: “I’m drunk.”

Currently at No. 2 in the charts with her single Don’t Play, with KSI and Digital Farm Animals, Anne-Marie is looking forward to the end of lockdown restrictions.

She says: “Before this all happened, my life was touring. I’m still struggling to be OK with being still and being in one place.

“We just have to take it step by step and wait for the day we can all be inside, sweaty and touching each other again.”

Who’d have thought we’d miss touching sweaty people at gigs?