Sport: Rugby League World Cup 2013

Lord Mawhinney Excerpts

Tuesday 23rd November 2010 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Garden of Frognal]

My Lords, I thank the noble Lord. As the daughter of a Lancastrian and a Durham mother, I may possibly stand for the north, but that is perhaps a little far-fetched. The noble Lord mentions the difference between the two fees. The tournament fee for the Rugby Union World Cup was part of the commitment demanded in the bidding process, but there was no such tournament fee for the Rugby League World Cup. In the interest of fair treatment, the Government have said that the underwriting should be pro-rata, with a provision of up to £625,000 should the event not make the projected £2 million profit. That has been agreed with the Treasury and needs to be formally agreed by Parliament. The Rugby League Board is still considering the proposals made by the Government and we await its response, probably early in December.

[Lord Mawhinney]

My Lords, as regards world sporting events, I declare an interest as deputy chairman of England’s 28-team World Cup bid. I thank my noble friend and, through her, the coalition Government, for their willingness to support the guarantees which FIFA required and to which, in all fairness, the previous Government also signed up, to enable our bid to be made. I also thank the Prime Minister for the very active and personal support which he is giving to the bid, the decision on which will be made next week.

[Baroness Garden of Frognal]

My Lords, I thank my noble friend for that very constructive and helpful question. I assure him that the Government remain fully behind England’s 2018 bid and will continue to support the bid in any way possible in the build up to FIFA’s decision on 2 December.