Football Governance Bill [HL]

Lord Moynihan of Chelsea Excerpts

Committee stage
Wednesday 15th January 2025 Lords Chamber

[Lord Jackson of Peterborough (Con)]

I fear the noble Lord, Lord Pannick, has misconstrued my comments. Perhaps it would be apposite to clarify that I was merely pressing him on the intellectual rationale for the assertions he made. That is a completely different issue from whether I agree that, being community minded, the Premier League should indeed disburse its funds generously to lower leagues.

[Lord Moynihan of Chelsea (Con)]

The noble Lord, Lord Watson, reminded us of solidarity. Does my noble friend agree that there is a great difference between legislative—which is to say coerced—solidarity, which some would call theft under the law, versus the voluntary and friendly solidarity that is already being shown by the Premier League? Does he agree that there is a fundamental difference between the two and that it is a subversion of the word to call it solidarity?

[Lord Watson of Invergowrie (Lab)]

The noble Lord is now making a distinction between solidarity and paternalism.