Oral Answers to Questions

Ben Bradley Excerpts

Wednesday 23rd September 2020 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

These are indeed tough times and I have no doubt that many businesses and many employees are feeling a great deal of anxiety and uncertainty and we will do our level best to protect them throughout this period. But we will get through this by precisely the methods that we have outlined and that were agreed upon in the House yesterday. The reality of the Opposition position has been exposed—the cat is out of the bag—because the shadow Education Secretary said of the current crisis,

“don’t let a good crisis go to waste.”

That is the real approach of the Labour party—seeking to create political opportunity out of a crisis, out of the difficulties and dangers this country is going through, while we are taking the tough decisions to get the virus down, to keep our education system going and to keep our economy moving. The right hon. and learned Gentleman supported that yesterday. I hope that, in a spirit of togetherness and unity, he will continue to give it his support.

[Ben Bradley (Mansfield) (Con)]

  Our local football clubs are hugely important to our communities and Mansfield Town is a fine example of a club that both works with and invests in our town. Many sports clubs around the country have found that their hopes of welcoming fans back to stadiums next month have been dashed. Given that many Football League clubs are so reliant on gate receipts to be viable, will my right hon. Friend assure me that he will do everything possible to support those clubs, both as businesses and for the communities that rely on them?

[The Prime Minister]

I know what a passionate supporter of Mansfield Town my hon. Friend is and I want to thank John and Carolyn Radford for all they have done for the club. The Secretary for State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport is in active consultations with clubs across the country to see what we can do to help.