The director of the Edinburgh International Festival, Fergus Linehan, has revealed how he fears the impact of Brexit could affect his position at the helm of the world's most prestigious arts festival.

As he unveiled an enlarged and eclectic 70th anniversary programme for 2017, Mr Linehan, who is Irish and an EU citizen in the UK, said Brexit has made his own position "complicated" and "unsettling".

He said he had signed a contract to be director of the festival, which runs from August 4-28, until 2019, but suggested Brexit could affect that arrangement.

Mr Linehan spoke to The Herald of his fears in the week that the House of Commons rejected a Lords amendment to Brexit legislation that would have addressed the rights of EU citizens in the UK.

He said if EU nationals positions are under threat as citizens in the UK, "that is going to be the real devastating blow for every body. We all complete rely on EU Nationals."

Linehan, who is in his third year as director of the festival, said: "It's terribly unsettling.

"I presumably need to go and show documents to show I have lived here so long, and someone has to check this - and there are millions of us.

"I have signed a contract until 2019, but presumably I am in the same boat as half of Edinburgh.

"And are employers now going to have to think about the terms of contract in which they engage?

"You have got to imagine there is a certain amount of common sense that says if you live here, you can continue to live here, but what will the particular arrangements be? That will be complicated."

Linehan's third programme celebrates the festival city's 70th anniversary, and is marked by a major opening event, Bloom, which will take over an entire area of the capital, as well as a substantial opera section, a new two part dystopian play by Alan Ayckbourn, several Scottish-produced plays that draw on the roots of European civilisation, and, as has been the case since he took over the job, a sizeable contemporary music section including performances by PJ Harvey, The Magnetic Fields, Jarvis Cocker and Turner Prize winning artist Martin Creed.

Mr Linehan said that Brexit will cause complications for the festival when it comes to replacing, in emergency situations, performers for shows.

He added: "People say: 'will [EU nationals] be able to stay?' but there is more to it than that.

"When I went to Australia [to be director of the Sydney International Festival] I got a visa, but my visa didn't allow my kids to get free education, it didn't cover healthcare, there was a whole range of two-tier engagement.

"So it isn't just about staying, it's about your whole relationship with the mechanisms of a place.

"And recruitment, there is also that question.

"Edinburgh feels particularly exposed because of its finance, culture and education [sectors], which drive the city, and all of them are completely international in perspective."

Linehan said that Brexit had already affected the practical running of the festival.

He said: "As far as the practicalities, we are just waiting to see what happens - the frustration is, having come out of the Independence Referendum, where everything was put on hold for a couple of years, because everyone said 'let's wait and see', it did look like we were heading into a period of stability, we are back into the 'wait and see' again. It's very difficult to have long range strategic conversations with people.

"It has definitely made things more expensive, but it has also lessened the cost of coming here.

"One of the biggest fears of the Festivals is: 'Has Edinburgh become too expensive in August?' Well it has just become 20% cheaper, for Americans and Europeans.

"The other thing is that no one wants to deal in pounds anymore. Now everyone is saying: if we contract in pounds now, where will it be in September? People are nervous about contracting in pounds, and it creates a certain level of instability, because our revenue comes in pounds."