L

Lord Lemos (Lab)

Speaking in the House of Lords on 26 November 2025

Debate

West Midlands Police: Maccabi Tel Aviv Fans

Contribution

I thank my noble friend for that question. I will deal first with the issues surrounding the football match. Obviously, the police are operationally independent of government, and officials routinely engage with operational partners to support public safety and effective policing. The Home Office does not publish operational intelligence or risk assessments. To address my noble friend’s question, on 31 October the Home Secretary commissioned His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services to review how police forces in England and Wales provide risk assessment advice—of course, that is what is being contested here—to local safety advisory groups and other bodies responsible for licensing high-profile public events. I know that the Policing Minister hopes for earlier feedback from HMI on the situation in the West Midlands and what happened in relation to the intelligence that was available from the Netherlands. But we hope the report from HMI will be ready by March, and I am sure the problems at Birmingham City Council will continue to receive much attention.

More from Lord Lemos (Lab)

Other recent Hansard contributions by the same speaker.

About Hansard

Hansard is the official verbatim record of proceedings in the UK Parliament. Every word spoken in the Commons and Lords is recorded and published — this page is a single contribution from that record.

Partner sites