Damian Green
Main Page: Damian Green (Conservative - Ashford)Urgent Questions are proposed each morning by backbench MPs, and up to two may be selected each day by the Speaker. Chosen Urgent Questions are announced 30 minutes before Parliament sits each day.
Each Urgent Question requires a Government Minister to give a response on the debate topic.
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Mr Whittingdale
We are in regular contact with Qatar—we have a good and strong relationship with the Qataris. Obviously, we will raise any concerns that are brought to our attention about the conditions of migrant workers. As I have said, the workers charter to which the hon. Gentleman refers has been introduced—it was developed with the International Labour Organisation to protect the rights of migrant workers. I understand that the Qataris are keen to address any concerns that have been highlighted, but we will go on pressing them when any further concerns are brought to our attention.
Damian Green (Ashford) (Con)
I wish this were a happier occasion to welcome my right hon. Friend to his richly deserved position at the Government Dispatch Box. The behaviour of FIFA—not just currently, but over decades—would make any football fan weep with anger. Does he agree that, in the short term, the best and most effective leverage over FIFA comes from its commercial sponsors, which pour many hundreds of millions of pounds into it? Will he use his and the Government’s influence on those sponsors to persuade them to stop spending so much money supporting a systemically corrupt organisation?
Mr Whittingdale
I entirely agree with my right hon. Friend. I welcome the statement that has already been made by Visa, and I hope that the other sponsors will follow suit. One assumes that commercial organisations wish to make sponsorship deals to attach themselves to a brand that is popular and successful, not one that is tarnished and regarded as corrupt. They are, therefore, well placed to press FIFA to make fundamental changes. If it fails to do so, they will have to consider whether to continue their sponsorship. That is obviously a matter for them, but I welcome the moves that have already been made by sponsors to put that message to FIFA.