Sporting Events Bill [HL]

Lord Foulkes of Cumnock Excerpts

2nd reading
Wednesday 3rd June 2026 Lords Chamber

[Lord Foulkes of Cumnock (Lab Co-op)]

My Lords, I hope colleagues will forgive my rustiness today, because this is the first proper speech I have made since my long, enforced absence from the House: that is, apart from jumping up at Question Time, which I am tempted to do perhaps rather too often. I hope I will be able to contribute. I did not expect to be following an Olympic swimmer in this debate. I hope I will do half as well as my noble friend Lord Barber did, following the noble Baroness, Lady Grey-Thompson. I will try my best. I will also avoid saying anything about the nature of Scottish refereeing as a Hearts supporter, but I think all noble Lords know what I mean.

I strongly support this Bill, which was excellently introduced by my noble friend. I think that, together with the draft ticket touts Bill, it will help to protect fans from the exploitation that they have been experiencing. It is estimated that it will save £112 million annually, and that fans will save about £37 on the average ticket in the resale market, so it is a very important issue. It is sensible to legislate for a common set of provisions that can be applied to specific events by secondary legislation, saving time in this Parliament and, in particular, in the devolved Parliaments.

It is urgent because, as we prepare for the 2028 Euros, which, as the Minister said, are going to be held in the UK and Ireland, it is important that we have, as she indicated, a common set of provisions on transport planning, street trading restrictions and commercial exclusion zones. That is a very welcome development, because the Euros are now so much larger than the competition that I attended in Sweden in 1992—supporting Scotland, of course. Then, only eight countries participated, and it was very easy and cheap to get tickets. I found myself sitting next to the then president of the Scottish Football Association. That would not happen these days. It was much easier in those days. Nine stadia are being used in 2028. I fear that Hampden Park is going to be a bit of a letdown for visitors. I think it is one of the worst stadia in this United Kingdom in terms of toilet and catering facilities. It is a disgrace to Scotland that we have not been able to build a world-class stadium when we see them much better in developing countries around the world. I issue a plea today to the SFA to do something about it.

Another issue that has been drawn to my attention is the number of tickets that are allocated to corporate sponsors at these events. Apparently, this happened in Paris with the game between Paris Saint-Germain and Arsenal. Often, those tickets are not used, and fans find it difficult to get tickets. I hope that UEFA and other international organisations will look at that to see that, if tickets are not going to be taken up by corporate sponsors, they are allocated to fans.

Now I am going to agree, and this is most unusual, with the noble Baroness, Lady Evans of Bowes Park. I cannot remember the last time, if ever, I agreed with her. That shows what sportsmanship there is here on this Bill. I read the suggestion from Alex Kelham and Freya Davey that these events—not one-off events, but regular events—can be included. I hope the Minister and the Government will look at that. I think, looking across at the noble Baroness, that there will be scope for an all-party amendment when we get to Committee.

I now come to a wider issue. I wrote a report entitled Football Governance—Business and Values for the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, which it agreed, highlighting that the integrity of the world’s most popular sport is at risk. Since I wrote it a few years ago, the integrity of football has become even more at risk. It is urgent to protect football from rogue actors and commercial exploitation, including agents who are making billions of pounds, many of them based here in London, and from the football establishment itself. As we approach the start of the World Cup in the USA, Mexico and Canada, it has got worse rather than better. Was not the presentation of the so-called “FIFA Peace Prize” by Gianni Infantino to Donald Trump, of all people, appalling? So was the award of the 2034 competition to Saudi Arabia, without competition, in spite of its appalling human rights record. That shows how bad this has become. Money and greed have taken over. So I say to the Minister that I hope that, beyond what we are discussing today, beyond this Bill, our Government, the Government of the United Kingdom, will take the lead in condemning and counteracting this abuse of football at every opportunity, for the good name of the great game of football.

Sporting Events Bill [HL]

Lord Foulkes of Cumnock Excerpts

Report stage
Wednesday 15th July 2026 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Grey-Thompson (CB)]

My Lords, I have attached my name to Amendments 11 and 13. I remind noble Lords of my registered interests: I am chair of Sport Wales and, with that, I sit on the board for UK Sport.

We have a rich history of organising sports events in this country. The noble Baroness, Lady Evans of Bowes Park, is absolutely right. We do not get much of an opportunity to discuss sport, but what we need with this Bill is some flexibility around what we are trying to do.

The world of major sports events bidding has changed quite a lot. For many cycles of bidding for the Olympics and Paralympics, we bid seven years out, but that changed when the international landscape changed, and the IOC has moved to announcing several Games in one go. We can look at what happened with the Commonwealth Games, when Australia pulled out and then Canada ultimately pulled out of one of the Games. We have to be fleet of foot if we want to bid for these events.

As someone who has worked in and been in sport for a very long time, I do not think that we should underestimate the power of these governing bodies coming together. They are wide-ranging and work on quite different events, but the fact that they all agree that these amendments are needed is important. We should listen to them. These amendments are important for what we are doing, and I look forward to the Minister’s response.

[Lord Foulkes of Cumnock (Lab Co-op)]

My Lords, let me first say that, like all sensible Scotsmen, I will be supporting England tonight. I can tell the noble Lord, Lord Addington, that soccer is my main interest, as a former chairman of Heart of Midlothian Football Club, so I have a particular interest this evening.

I support this amendment for all the reasons I gave at Second Reading and for the excellent reasons put by the noble Baroness, Lady Evans, in her speech. However, I have had an opportunity over the last few days to discuss this issue with my noble friend the Minister. She has assured me that this will be looked at over the Recess and sympathetic consideration given to the points in this amendment. Accordingly, I hope that we will not divide the House this evening, because we want to look forward to finishing before the witching hour, as we all know.

[Lord Holmes of Richmond (Con)]

I support all the amendments in this group, particularly Amendment 13, in the name of my noble friend Lady Evans. She made an eloquent speech but, really, she covered the issue in three words: opportunity, not obligation.

“It’s coming home”, my Lords. These events are already here, year in, year out, delivering sporting, economic, social and place-based growth, one might say. The very definition of a framework and enabling legislation is opportunity, not obligation.