Contributions
566 recent contributions in Hansard
HANSARDFootball Governance Bill [ Lords ] (Eighth sitting)I want to clarify whether the Minister is entirely comfortable that the Government are in no way able to control the amount of money spent by the regulator. If, in fulfilling its…12 Jun 2025HANSARDFootball Governance Bill [ Lords ] (Eighth sitting)Again, I am concerned about the clash of duties. The Minister has already told us that her team and the insolvency team have met and considered this issue. In a period of…12 Jun 2025HANSARDFootball Governance Bill [ Lords ] (Eighth sitting)I am intrigued to know whether, with all his experience, his chairmanship of the football all-party parliamentary group and his background with the Bill, the hon. Gentleman thinks…12 Jun 2025HANSARDFootball Governance Bill [ Lords ] (Eighth sitting)I agree with the Minister—my understanding of what she just said is the same—but that leaves a tiny bit of clarity still to be given. Will all the normal running costs of the…12 Jun 2025HANSARDFootball Governance Bill [ Lords ] (Eighth sitting)I welcome the fact that the Minister is saying, “Let’s trust existing organisations to do it”, rather than bringing it within the purview of a higher regulator. On the basis that…12 Jun 2025HANSARDFootball Governance Bill [ Lords ] (Eighth sitting)The shadow Minister is making a completely reasonable amendment. We have the emblem, colours and name. Does he agree that it would be helpful if the Minister explained why the…12 Jun 2025HANSARDFootball Governance Bill [ Lords ] (Eighth sitting)It continues to be a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Ms Butler. I do not know whether the Minister has ever run a company that was approaching either administration or…12 Jun 2025HANSARDFootball Governance Bill [ Lords ] (Seventh sitting)The Minister knows—I have approached her about this—that a club in my constituency of Spelthorne has gone into administration. It has no home ground, but it does have a training…12 Jun 2025HANSARDFootball Governance Bill [ Lords ] (Seventh sitting)I appreciate the desire to legislate for bad owners, but is the hon. Gentleman not concerned about good owners who might find money very tight? They have assets beyond the home…12 Jun 2025HANSARDFootball Governance Bill [ Lords ] (Seventh sitting)I wish to build on my hon. Friend’s themes. Football has the unfortunate concept of the friendly; frequently, they are not very friendly at all. When I read the Bill, it was clear…12 Jun 2025HANSARDFootball Governance Bill [ Lords ] (Seventh sitting)Does my hon. Friend agree with the analogy that, although we are all very proud of having the Special Air Service as our elite forces, the SAS cannot be created without a very…12 Jun 2025HANSARDFootball Governance Bill [ Lords ] (Seventh sitting)The hon. Member makes a pertinent point. As I said, the word “competition” seems to refer to the sort of flyaway league we have discussed; are one-off friendlies competitions…12 Jun 2025HANSARDFootball Governance Bill [ Lords ] (Seventh sitting)If a club has lost its licence, has it not therefore been taken beyond the purview of the regulator? How is the regulator still empowered to pursue the owner?12 Jun 2025HANSARDFootball Governance Bill [ Lords ] (Seventh sitting)It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Ms Butler. I rise to support amendment 110. I suspect the Minister might say that we do not need to cover everything and that…12 Jun 2025HANSARDSupport for Small BusinessesLky7 Sports is a small cycle and nutrition business in Ashford in my constituency. It has been hammered by the loss of small business rate relief, and wrote to me yesterday…12 Jun 2025HANSARDFootball Governance Bill [ Lords ] (Eighth sitting)Let me provide some context. I will not name the team, but there is a team in the National League whose cash at hand in 2020 was £25,000, and by 2022 that had reduced to £9,802.…12 Jun 2025HANSARDSpending Review 2025I thank the Chancellor for her statement, but I fear that she may have misunderstood the question that my hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Dr Spencer) asked…11 Jun 2025HANSARDFootball Governance Bill [ Lords ] (Fifth sitting)My understanding of the Bill is that under those circumstances, they would lose their licence to operate.10 Jun 2025HANSARDFootball Governance Bill [ Lords ] (Fifth sitting)The Minister mentioned the two criteria of the business plan and the personnel statement. I thought from our discussions last week that giving the regulator any form of…10 Jun 2025HANSARDFootball Governance Bill [ Lords ] (Fifth sitting)I am sure that the Minister realises that one of the variants in a club’s business plan is whether its matches are selected for being televised. It is an incredibly haphazard…10 Jun 2025