Lord Suri
Main Page: Lord Suri (Conservative - Life peer)
Lord Suri (Con)
I thank my noble colleagues for securing the time for this debate. This is an issue of great pertinence for me. Before I came to this wonderful country, I had an interest in horseracing. During my stay in Kenya, I used to import weekly racing journals and horseracing papers for reselling through my bookshop. British horseracing has the longest pedigree in the world, and, like our own English Premier League, is widely regarded as the best in the world. Having noted this, I was glad to hear of a change in the law in the 2015 Budget to reform the 1963 horserace betting levy with a new horserace betting right. Some 200,000 people are employed in jobs linked directly to horseracing, as well as all the downstream jobs and multiplier effects; 86,000 are employed in breeding alone. If we want to protect those jobs, which often tend to be concentrated in small rural communities with few other sources of gainful employment, we must secure a viable and long-term funding mechanism.
Many people watched and had a flutter on the Grand National two weeks ago. Whether they were successful or not, many would have placed their bets on non-domicile remote gambling operators, and would have paid nothing towards supporting the industry. This loophole, according to the industry’s own figures, costs around £26 million a year, money that is desperately needed for long-term investment to provide a secure future for British racing. I hope that the Ministers responsible will be bringing forward legislation sooner rather than later, as the industry loses money with every passing event under the current system. I also hope that this new levy will not be taxed by VAT under EU rules, as this will reduce the money paid to racing, or increase the cost to bookies, who will pass it on to the consumer. Also, it would mean that non-EU betting firms would be exempt from VAT, making them cheaper to bet with than our own bookies. This consultation ought to be wrapped up soon, and I look forward to having the opportunity to vote on legislation that will secure a good future for British racing, and remove the Government from the picture permanently by cementing the relationship between racing and betting.