England v Spain in the 2024 Euros final (Image: Getty)
Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy is under pressure to guarantee a planned new football regulator will not lead to English teams being banned from international competitions.
Labour peer Tom Watson, a former shadow secretary of state for culture, media and sport, spoke out following warnings that Government-backed legislation could lead to England being expelled from the European Championship and Premier League clubs being barred from the Champions League.
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He said: “We have all accepted the need for a regulator, but I urge Lisa Nandy to provide a personal guarantee to all football fans that her Football Bill will ensure, beyond any doubt, that English teams will not be barred from international competition.”
Conservatives including Olympic silver medallist Lord Moynihan, a former sports minister who served as chairman of the British Olympic Association in the run-up to the 2012 games, have also expressed concerns.
UEFA, the body that governs European football, wrote to Ms Nandy in September warning that the proposed new regulator could breach rules designed “to guarantee the autonomy of sport and fairness of sporting competition”.
The “ultimate sanction” would be to exclude teams from European competitions, the letter warned.
Minsters have responded by removing measures in the legislation that would have blocked buyers from countries deemed hostile to the UK from taking over clubs, but this has not ended fears that the Football Governance Bill threatens poses a threat to the English football industry.
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The current legislation was introduced by Labour but the previous Conservative government backed similar measures following the outcry over plans for six premier league teams to join a new European Super League.
Lord Watson, Labour’s former deputy leader, said: “I guarantee that by the end of the passage of this Bill, this Parliament will have to say to 1.5billion English football fans that we will guarantee that England can play in an international competition.”
Lord Moynihan said: “These concerns that UEFA has brought forward are very serious. They would have a significant impact on our ability to play in the Champions League and the European Championship - indeed, if we apply the same logic to FIFA, in the World Cup as well.
“The preservation of the autonomy of football governance is therefore incredibly important.”
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Football executive Karren Brady, vice chairman of West Ham and a Conservative member of the House of Lords, has called on the Government to publish UEFA’s letter in full. She said last week: “It appears that the Government have ignored that letter and its warnings. UEFA spells out that ‘the ultimate sanction would be excluding the federation from UEFA and teams from competition’.”
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Ministers insist the letter is private and will not be published.
Sports Minister Baroness Twycross said: "This Government will not do anything to jeopardise the FA’s membership of UEFA or the participation of English teams in UEFA competitions."