English Football: Financial Sustainability and Governance
Rupert Lowe Excerpts(3 weeks, 1 day ago)
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Rupert Lowe (Great Yarmouth) (Reform)
As is seemingly my usual opening line in many of these debates, I am one of very few people elected in this place who has any actual experience of the industry that we are discussing. As a former premier league football chairman, I can honestly say that the premier league works. Britian does not have many success stories left, but our domestic football is one of them. My message to all of you is �Leave it alone.�
I mean this as a genuine question: do any of you understand the consequences of what you are looking to do? Regulating these industries does not work. London as a financial centre has withered and died on the vine since the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000. Why would football be any different? The premier league projects unrivalled soft power, rakes in a fortune for HM Revenue and Customs and is actually good fun, usually offering competitive football, despite Southampton�s woeful record this season.
What is the Government�s plan? It was first proposed by the Conservatives, of course: regulate, strangulate, suffocate. Who wants that to happen the most? La Liga, Serie A, the Bundesliga and even the Saudis. A regulator would deter foreign investment and add bureaucracy to an already heavily governed industry. It is ludicrous and does nothing to protect clubs in the lower leagues. It should be revoked. Let us encourage and campaign, not regulate. The private sector built this success without regulation. My overriding message to all of you is �Leave football alone.�
Oral Answers to Questions
Rupert Lowe Excerpts(2 months, 1 week ago)
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Chris Bryant
Attacked on both sides in different ways—pushmi-pullyu, I think it was—but my hon. Friend makes a good point. There is of course provision for local mayors and local authorities to be able to introduce similar measures on a voluntary basis, as has already happened in Manchester.
Rupert Lowe (Great Yarmouth) (Reform)
I think we in this House can all agree that the premier league is the world’s most successful league. It has grown up under self-regulation, but there are now proposals to regulate it. The premier league transmits soft power across the world and raises huge amounts of revenue for the Government. Given the damage that the Financial Services and Markets Act has done to the London stock exchange and other markets, will the Government take responsibility if football declines after they introduce football regulation?
Lisa Nandy
Football is an ecosystem, and we work very closely with the Premier League. As a crown jewel of British exports, it brings joy to millions of people all over the world, but the fact is that far too many football clubs are currently unsustainable, suffering from poor ownership and poor financial flow. The Football Governance Bill was in our manifesto and those of Opposition parties, and we will not be blocked by unelected peers from enacting what was a manifesto commitment and making good on that promise for football fans.