Football Governance Bill (Seventh sitting)
Thursday 23rd May 2024
(6 months, 4 weeks ago)
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The Chair
I understand that the Government Whip wishes to move a motion to vary the order of the Committee of 14 May.
Ordered,
That the Order of the Committee of 14 May 2024 be varied by the omission from paragraph 1(d) of the words “and 2.00 pm”. —(Mike Wood.)
The Chair
The Committee will therefore not meet this afternoon.
I understand that the Whip wishes to move the Adjournment.
The Lord Commissioner of His Majesty’s Treasury (Mike Wood)
Before I move the Adjournment, I would like to express my thanks to you, Ms Nokes, to Sir Mark, Sir Christopher and Mr Sharma, to the Clerks of the Committee and to all its members. I wish all those who are standing for re-election the best of luck—but not too much luck, in some cases.
I beg to move, That further consideration of the Bill be now adjourned.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport (Stuart Andrew)
It is with a very heavy heart that I stand here thinking about all the work that has gone into preparing the Bill, the foundations of which were set in stone by my hon. Friend the Member for Chatham and Aylesford. She put in an enormous amount of work to make sure that we had a strong evidence base for a Bill that would be effective for the future of English football. I am extremely grateful to her for all that she has done. I know how passionately she cares about this.
I thank those who supported my hon. Friend in that work, not least the Football Supporters’ Association, Kevin Miles and everyone who spent hours and hours listening to evidence. That helped us to produce initially the White Paper and eventually the Bill.
I pay tribute to the officials in the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. When I was first appointed as sports Minister, most of my friends laughed, but the Department’s officials have managed to make me understand more about football than I ever thought I would. They have been phenomenal at making sure that the Bill has been drafted as it is. I am incredibly grateful to them.
I thank the hon. Member for Barnsley East, who has been constructive throughout the whole process. I have really appreciated it.
I thank all members of the Committee, and indeed colleagues across the House, for their help and support over the past few weeks. We have had positive engagement as we have tried to address the challenges and issues that needed to be dealt with. There is a Bill ready to go, so I hope that whoever wins the next election will realise that this is a good piece of legislation that is quick and easy to pick up.
Robin Millar (Aberconwy) (Con)
May I add to the Minister’s thanks for the exceptional work led by my hon. Friend the Member for Chatham and Aylesford? When I was going through the Bill, it struck me that this is the first time that football and politics have collided in this way. I cannot believe that the work, the attention and care paid to the Bill in our debates and in the many months running up to it will be lost. For the record, I am grateful. I am sure that what has been preserved of the debate so far will be useful for the future.
Stuart Andrew
My hon. Friend is right. I genuinely think that this is an excellent Bill: it is considered, and it will achieve the objectives that we want. As I have said on so many occasions, when a football club goes into administration, it is not just the club that feels it, but the whole community, all the businesses supported by the club and its sense of identity.
I hope that whoever wins the election on 4 July will see this as a good Bill to crack on with, because it is important for the future of football and, crucially, for the future of football fans. They are the ones we have been thinking about through the whole process. They are the heart and centre of the Bill. I hope it will be taken up. I thank everybody for all their help and support.
Stephanie Peacock (Barnsley East) (Lab)
I understand why we are adjourning, and I echo the Minister’s comments that that is with disappointment and a heavy heart, because the Football Governance Bill is so important to communities up and down the country. I know that from my own in Barnsley.
I have a few thank yous. I thank you, Ms Nokes, and the other Members who have chaired our sittings. I thank all the officials and stakeholders who have worked so hard on the Bill. I thank the hon. Member for Chatham and Aylesford for all her work on the fan-led review; I pay her huge tribute and wish her very well as she stands down from Parliament. I would like to say a big thank you and pay tribute to the Minister. It has been a real pleasure to shadow him: he has been courteous, polite and kind throughout. He has done a really good job and will be missed.
I would like to say a big thank you to everyone in my office, and particularly to Anna Clingan. We have done three Bill Committees together. It is not the easiest thing to do in opposition. We are watching wash-up very closely. A big thanks to all the staff who have worked incredibly hard on this. The Bill is incredibly important. I end by wishing everyone the very best.
Dame Tracey Crouch (Chatham and Aylesford) (Con)
I did not expect my last contribution in this House to be one where I was crying my eyes out, to be honest, but I am glad that I am doing so under your stewardship in the Chair, Ms Nokes, as one of my best friends in Parliament, with another of my best friends sitting as a Minister, on a Bill that has been a labour of love for quite a lot of people, including all the officials in his Department, the fans up and down the country and the people who contributed to the fan-led review and the work of the Department in following it up. I am exceptionally grateful.
I am also grateful to the shadow Minister, the hon. Member for Barnsley East, who is a fellow member of the women’s parliamentary football team. I have very fond memories of being in France with her and securing that Guinness world record. I have the medal and will shortly be packing it up with the rest of my stuff.
This is a ready-made Bill. I hope that whoever forms the next Government can take it forward. I am obviously disappointed that it has not made it, quite understandably, into the wash-up, on a technicality, but I appreciate that this is the place we work in, and them’s the rules, as they say. I am incredibly grateful for all the support across the whole House and outside the House, from all the football authorities, the fans, the organisations and the general punters—the people who just go and watch the game because they love it and it is important to them deep inside their soul.
I wish everyone who is seeking re-election a safe election, and I wish those who are not coming back to this place a very happy future. Thank you.
The Chair
If there are no further contributions, I am probably not allowed to speak from the Chair, but Parliament will be a poorer place for not having the hon. Member for Chatham and Aylesford in it.
Question put and agreed to.