English Football: Financial Sustainability and Governance

Debate between Yuan Yang and James Wild

Thursday 6th March 2025 Westminster Hall

[Yuan Yang]

I thank all hon. Members who have made speeches or interventions today. I also thank the Minister for her response and reassurance that she and this Government will continue to take seriously the real and pressing need for better football governance in this country. I am glad that she mentioned this Government�s amendments and additions to the Bill, particularly concerning fan consultation. I think we can all agree that we are here today in this Chamber because of the fans we represent.

Many hon. Members have brought up the social value of clubs and the community value that they bring to us. As my hon. Friend the Member for Weston-super-Mare (Dan Aldridge) pointed out, it is rare in any other walk of life to find a club that spans youth clubs and elderly people�s clubs and does work across the spectrum of ages and backgrounds. My hon. Friend the Member for Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes (Melanie Onn) described how much of a presence her local club has in her town. My hon. Friend the Member for Stoke-on-Trent North (David Williams) spoke about how his local club, Port Vale, received an award for its community value, and he described the value of the cohesion that a football club can bring as a focal point for the community.

My hon. Friend the Member for Morecambe and Lunesdale (Lizzi Collinge), who has worked at length with her local club the Shrimps, described how clubs can bring people together. I recognise that Morecambe football club faces a severely urgent need for an independent regulator. Because of that urgency, I was actually quite disappointed to hear the shadow Minister, the hon. Member for Old Bexley and Sidcup (Mr French), describe the history of the Bill, but then sidestep that history and seem to oppose the current Bill. I also note that he did not respond to the question from my hon. Friend the Member for Bracknell (Peter Swallow) about why he had changed his mind.

For many clubs across the country, we need regulation sooner rather than later, as my hon. Friends the Members for Derby North (Catherine Atkinson), for Middlesbrough and Thornaby East (Andy McDonald) and for Harlow (Chris Vince) pointed out. Every day we wait means another day that the staff of Reading football club forgo their wages and fans forgo certainty. My neighbour the hon. Member for Wokingham (Clive Jones), who described this as a cross-party issue. I urge Opposition Members to maintain the cross-party consensus that was built over the last Parliament, when we all identified the need for independent football regulation.

I recognise the concerns voiced by the right hon. Member for Salisbury (John Glen) and the hon. Member for Hinckley and Bosworth (Dr Luke Evans) about the effects of a new regulator. I see where they are coming from, but I would argue that regulation can only increase international business confidence in the integrity of our football pyramid. There have been legal challenges already in the past few decades about the collective selling in the premier league, and I believe that better governance would reassure all those looking on that the public benefit argument has been sufficiently thought through.

More regulation would mean more stability across the pyramid and would prevent the situation we are in today, under which so many Members in this room have seen their local clubs go into administration, and which the hon. Member for Great Yarmouth (Rupert Lowe) experienced when he was the chair of Southampton and it went into administration. For those clubs that have experienced administration, as my hon. Friend the Member for Bolton West (Phil Brickell) described, the impact on fans and on staff is immense. My hon. Friend the Member for Luton South and South Bedfordshire (Rachel Hopkins) described how fans can rescue a club from administration, but so few manage to go down that route and emerge successfully.

My 90 minutes is drawing to a close, and there is no extra time for us in this match.

[James Wild]

Will the hon. Lady give way?

[Karl Turner (in the Chair)]

Order. Interventions are not taken in wind-ups.

Finance Bill (Fourth sitting)

Debate between Yuan Yang and James Wild

Committee stage
Thursday 30th January 2025 Public Bill Committees

[James Wild]

I beg to move, That the clause be read a Second time.

To support growth, innovation and investment, we require a competitive tax environment for business. New clause 10 would require the Chancellor, within six months of the Bill being passed, to conduct a review of business and lay before the House a report setting out recommendations arising from the review, including recommendations on how to use business tax to encourage and increase the investment of profits and revenue, and on how to ensure that businesses have certainty about the taxes to which they are subject.

A common theme throughout the Committee has been the impact of the measures in the first Labour Budget for 14 years. Sadly, we know that that Budget and this Finance Bill introduce tax increases of around £40 billion a year—it is the biggest tax-raising Budget in modern history. It is businesses that are bearing the brunt, including the £25 billion a year through the jobs tax that the Government repeatedly promised during the election not to introduce.

The Government said that their priority is growth. We heard more about their plans yesterday, but we did not hear much about how their plans would deliver more growth in this Parliament, rather than in the long term. While that is welcome, I think people are also interested in the here and now. Having inherited the fastest-growing economy in the G7, the OBR then downgraded the growth rate by 0.7% in its forecast, as a result of the measures in the Budget. We have seen borrowing costs rise to the highest level for 27 years, inflation is above target and business confidence is plummeting. That latter point is what lies behind the new clause.

[Yuan Yang (Earley and Woodley) (Lab)]

Although I am very much in support of reviews, and the OBR is the right body to conduct ongoing reviews of the impact of taxation on growth, does the hon. Gentleman want to set out any direction in which the Opposition might want to take business taxes? If there is a certain direction, where will the costs and savings come from?

[James Wild]

Would that we had the happy chance to be sitting in the Treasury making the policy decisions. It is the Chancellor who will bring forward another fiscal event, and who may have to take some action to deal with the impact of her Budget. This is about what the Government will do and the review that they conduct and bring forward.

Business confidence is essential for investment, but it has been damaged by this Government, when they first came in, talking down the economy. We now hear a much more positive tone talking about our strengths, and the strong fundamentals of our economy, which were all points that the Opposition made throughout our period in office. We encouraged the Government to do the same when they came in, but they wanted to talk about a fantasy black hole and the worst economic inheritance, which has done a lot of damage to our economy.

The latest Confederation of British Industry growth indicator shows that private sector firms expect a significant fall in activity over the next three months. The latest purchasing managers’ index flash shows that one in four businesses have cut jobs due to employment costs. The Office for National Statistics showed that retail sales in December fell by 43%. This is a worrying state of affairs and any Members who speak to businesses will have heard the deep concerns over the hiking costs of employing people, the cut in business rate support for retail, leisure and hospitality businesses, and other measures.

The Budget put up taxes on entrepreneurs and wealth creators, and it is driving people who create wealth away from our country. The energy profits levy puts at risk 35,000 jobs in Scotland and the North sea. The family business tax, which was launched without any warning, has had a highly damaging impact on family farms and other family firms. That is why a review of business taxation is so necessary, with the objective of not only encouraging an increase in investment but providing certainty for firms. The Minister has spoken repeatedly about certainty, so I hope he will feel able to support the new clause.