Sporting Events Bill [HL]

Baroness Paul of Shepherd's Bush Excerpts

2nd reading
Wednesday 3rd June 2026 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Paul of Shepherd’s Bush (Lab)]

My Lords, I am delighted to speak in today’s Second Reading debate and warmly welcome the Bill for not only its substance but its ambition. As others have noted, at its heart, this legislation gives us the ability to act with pace and confidence when opportunities arise to host the world’s most significant sporting events. It removes the need for repeated event-specific legislation and instead creates a standing framework that allows the United Kingdom to demonstrate bold and timely leadership when required. This may be a small Bill, but boy is it mighty.

I confess that I have not always been a natural sports fan. I am what you might call a fair-weather friend. Growing up in Shepherd’s Bush, I have at various times, and with varying degrees of conviction, claimed allegiance to QPR, Chelsea, Brentford, and Fulham, often depending on who was doing best at that time. But while my loyalties may have been somewhat flexible, my admiration for national sporting events has always been steadfast. T-shirts, bunting, flags— I am all in. I am an enormous believer in the power of such events not just to entertain but to bring people together, to inspire pride and to showcase the very best of our country. I am equally passionate about grass-roots sport, powered mostly by brilliant volunteers, because we all understand the completely symbiotic relationship between global and local sport, and the fact that brilliance at elite level fuels aspiration at community level.

The Bill provides the technical framework to help turn aspiration into delivery, ensuring that national successes translate into local opportunities and investments. Of course, enabling legislation rightly invites scrutiny. The Bill’s flexibility is its strength, but it must also be matched with clarity and appropriate oversight. As we take the Bill through Committee, we may want to consider how delegated powers are framed, how ministerial discretion is balanced with parliamentary accountability, and how commercial arrangements and security are applied proportionately. We must also ensure that local authorities are supported and not stretched by these arrangements, because their capacity will be central to successful delivery. None of these are objections to the Bill; they are questions that will help us to be ready for first-class delivery when we are called upon.

The Bill arrives at exactly the right moment. As many have mentioned, the UK and Ireland will co-host UEFA Euro 2028 and there is clear interest from international bodies in bringing future events, such as the Rugby World Cup, the Tour de France and further cricket world cups, back to this country. These opportunities require Government’s to have the ability to act quickly, and this Bill allows us to do precisely that, strengthening our ability to compete internationally, to put forward credible bids and to ensure that the benefits of hosting are felt across the whole country.

I now turn to those benefits, because this is about not just national and global prestige but local impact. I am proud to live in the London Borough of Merton, which has set out an ambitious vision to become London’s first borough of sport. Merton is, as all noble Lords will know, home to the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club at Wimbledon and host to the annual championships, the world’s most prestigious tennis tournament and a truly global event. The championships bring around half a million visitors to the borough in over two weeks and the tournament brings in about a £200 million boost to the London economy, with particularly strong benefits to the local hospitality sector.

Merton’s story is about not just global prestige but what sport can achieve in our communities, and nowhere is that more powerfully demonstrated than in the story of the mighty AFC Wimbledon—a community-based club whose supporters refused to leave the borough when Wimbledon FC was relocated to Milton Keynes in 2002. Instead, fans chose to start again from the very bottom. From borrowed boots and borrowed grounds, this fan-owned club has, in 24 years, risen nine football leagues, currently competing in League One with a continuous ambition to go higher. Its new stadium at Plough Lane is a symbol of community resilience and a driver of local economic activity, with match days bringing hundreds of thousands of pounds into the surrounding area. Its women’s team is one of the fastest-growing parts of the club in bringing in new audiences. I am a strong supporter of AFC Wimbledon— I have found my loyalty. It is deeply encouraging to see not only young girls but young boys supporting women’s sport with equal enthusiasm.

To build on this remarkable legacy, Merton Council has developed a powerful programme of grass-roots activity under the banner of the “Borough of Sport”. It has delivered 45 separate initiatives, open to residents of all ages and abilities, to improve the outcomes of people in their local communities. These events have ranged from a sports day that attracted 20,000 visitors, trying out 70 different sports, all demonstrated by enthusiastic grass-roots organisations, to free swimming every week for over-65s and under 16 year-olds in the school holidays, improved cricket pitches, new basketball courts and outdoor gyms, and a world-class BMX track that boasts an Olympic-standard Prostart gate that will make the track eligible to host national or international competitions—I hope the Minister is listening. There are also 27 sports equipment loan boxes, with footballs, rugby balls and tennis equipment available to borrow for free, as well as exercise classes in parks and libraries, and the incredible and hugely popular parkrun and junior parkrun have been brought to the borough.

These are real achievements and the impact has been tangible. Some 8,000 previously inactive residents are now taking part in sport and physical activity. That is not a statistic; that is a transformation. These people are physically healthier, their mental well-being has been improved and their sense of loneliness has decreased because of this activity. This has not come about by accident; it has come about under the leadership of the Labour leader of the council, Ross Garrod, and his team. On an election day that was quite tough for people on this side of the House, Merton was the only borough in the country where Labour made gains— I wonder whether there is a thread that runs through this. I applaud Merton for its efforts.

That is why the Bill matters. Major sporting events are not just ends in themselves but catalysts: they drive participation, support regeneration and generate economic growth. They inspire young people to get involved, to try something new and to see themselves as something better. They provide moments for national celebration and, sometimes, sadly, for commiseration. When we host well, we leave a legacy that is felt not just in stadiums but in parks, schools, leisure centres and community clubs. The Bill gives us the tools to do that more consistently, more confidently, more economically and more effectively. It ensures that, when the UK hosts world events, the benefits can be felt anywhere, from global centres such as Wimbledon tennis club to the grass-roots initiatives in communities such as mine in Merton. This is a Bill that enables ambition, strengthens capability and unlocks potential. I am very pleased to support it.