L

Lord Markham (Con)

Speaking in the House of Lords on 11 March 2025

Debate

Football Governance Bill [HL]

Contribution

This amendment is trying to avoid that and do it the other way around. Our trade agreements are in place already and well-known. We are asking the football regulator to do many things, but I would not expect it to know, because of the large levels of foreign ownership, how its decisions might disproportionately affect some segments versus other segments and how that could trip over some of the World Trade Organization agreements or other such bodies. That is what we are trying to protect against. Hopefully, it is not even relevant, but again it is trying to ensure that we do not sleepwalk into something that is thoroughly unintended. This is a simple precautionary amendment to avoid such unintended consequences. So, as I say, we must all recognise that our existing trade agreements are not just beneficial but vital for our future growth. The Government have repeatedly said, quite rightly, that growth is their number one mission. All we are trying to do with this amendment is make sure that we do not inadvertently trip up on one of those and the regulator has one of those unintended consequences, because clearly none of us wants to see that happen.

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