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The popular Glastonbury 2021 is officially cancelled, the festival’s organisers have announced.

“With great regret, we must announce that this year’s Glastonbury festival will not take place, and that this will be another enforced fallow year for us,” organisers Michael and Emily Eavis said in a statement.

“In spite of our efforts to move heaven and earth, it has become clear that we simply will not be able to make the festival happen this year. We are so sorry to let you all down.”

The event will not be rescheduled for this year.

Information for ticket holders is available on the festival’s website. “We are very confident we can deliver something really special for us all in 2022!” the Eavises said.

The decision came down to the wire: on January 4, Emily Eavis said there was no news and that the event wasn’t cancelled, denying claims made by Spice Girl Mel B on BBC Radio 5 Live that it had been.

Culture secretary Oliver Dowden wrote in a statement: “I share the disappointment of everyone that Glastonbury won’t be going ahead this year.

This regrettable but understandable decision is recognition that public health comes first.” He said the government were looking at “problems around getting insurance” for festivals, with many organisers calling for a government-backed insurance scheme to help them continue to plan their events with greater confidence.

UK festival organisers have said they face cancellation and possible financial ruin if the government does not institute an insurance scheme to protect them from bankruptcy in the event of cancellation owing to the pandemic, similar to a scheme that has kept TV and film productions in business. – The Guardian