Lord Faulkner of Worcester
Main Page: Lord Faulkner of Worcester (Labour - Life peer)
Lord Faulkner of Worcester
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how they are supporting England’s bid for the 2018 World Cup.
Lord Shutt of Greetland
My Lords, the Government wholeheartedly support the Football Association’s bid for the 2018 World Cup. In his first week in office, the Prime Minister discussed the bid with the president of FIFA, the international federation of association football. Both the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport and the Minister for Sport and Olympics went to South Africa to discuss the bid with FIFA executive committee members and to demonstrate the level of government support.
Lord Faulkner of Worcester
My Lords, it gives me pleasure to thank the Minister for that positive and encouraging answer. He will be aware of the PricewaterhouseCoopers study published in May, which demonstrated that the potential benefit to the economy of a successful bid and of staging the World Cup in the summer of 2018 would be of the order of £3.2 billion. Can he clarify two points on his Answer? First, do the Government stand unequivocally by the £300 million of financial guarantees that were entered into by their predecessor in December and which were signed at the same time by the then Leader of the Opposition and the leader of the Liberal Democrats? Secondly, when the FIFA inspection team comes to Britain at the end of August, will it have the opportunity to meet members of the Government at the highest level and be given every encouragement?
Lord Shutt of Greetland
My Lords, I pay tribute to the noble Lord’s involvement in the world of football. First, I am able to confirm that the coalition Government have accepted the position agreed by the previous Government, as indeed the party leaders signed up to last autumn. Secondly, I understand that the inspection team is likely to come in late August and on that occasion will meet the Deputy Prime Minister.