Football Governance White Paper

Ian Mearns Excerpts

Thursday 23rd February 2023 Commons Chamber

[Stuart Andrew]

First, I pay tribute to my hon. Friend and my hon. Friend the Member for Dudley South (Mike Wood), who have been diligent in campaigning hard on behalf of their local fans. I would be more than happy to meet them. As I said, I ensured that my first meeting as Minister was with fans, because I wanted to hear their voice loud and clear, and I am glad that through this White Paper their voices will be heard loud and clear by the regulator.

[Ian Mearns (Gateshead) (Lab)]

May I declare an interest, as the chair of the all-party group on football supporters, the secretariat of which is supplied by the Football Supporters’ Association? Kevin Miles, its chief executive, is with us in the Gallery today. Fans are the lifeblood of clubs, not just an asset to be cynically sweated, as was said by Mike Ashley when he took over Newcastle United about 14 years ago. I really welcome this White Paper, although it is long-awaited. The Minister said that before legislation is passed he would establish a shadow regulator that would do some scoping work to closely analyse what is happening on the ground now, and the preparatory work so that, once the regulator is properly established and underpinned by legislation, it can hit the ground running. Will he now commit to setting up that shadow regulator?

[Stuart Andrew]

I am glad the hon. Gentleman referred to Kevin Miles and all those at the FSA. They were the group I was talking about a few minutes ago and I was particularly struck by some of their horrific stories, including that of Blackpool fans who had to boycott their own club for five years, which shows the huge sacrifice they were making.

[Ian Mearns]

There is a long list.

[Stuart Andrew]

Absolutely, there is a long list. I can assure the hon. Gentleman that I am actively looking at the shadow board and, while I cannot make that commitment right now, I understand the merits of our having one.