Speeches by French.

“I thank my hon. Friend for that intervention. That is something that we discussed at some length during the Committee’s first sitting. It is disappointing that all members of the Committee, including my hon. Friend, do not have access to that information to help them to make informed decisions. I appreciate some of the…”

“I would argue very strongly that when the English football team finally wins the World cup, it will get much more out of FIFA than this country would ever get out of the European Union. English football does not exist in a vacuum, but the Bill acts as if it does. The global football ecosystem is fantastically complex, …”

“I appreciate what the Lib Dem spokesperson is trying to do, but I point out that English football has been involved directly with the rules that have been made and continue to be made.”

“I beg to move amendment 134, in clause 14, page 9, line 3, at end insert— “(aa) the cumulative impact of the costs imposed on clubs through compliance with the IFR’s regulatory regime, and” This amendment would require the IFR to include in the annual report an account of the financial costs imposed on clubs through it…”

“I beg to move amendment 98, in clause 7, line 35, at end insert— “(3A) The IFR may not redistribute revenue, income or any monies from one regulated club to another regulated club.” This amendment prevents the IFR from redistributing any funds from one club to another. Again, it is a privilege to speak under your chair…”

“A point that is being slightly missed in this exchange is something that I mentioned in my speech: the impact and risk for clubs and whether the line is crossed. In particular, the qualification for the Champions League each year in the Premier League is a huge source of revenue, as I explained. Having that risk at pla…”

“I thank the hon. Member for that intervention. As I said, it really is about transparency. We believe that we, as elected Members of this House, need to have an understanding of the impact that the regulator will have on the ultimate person, which in this case is the club’s fans. That is what the amendment seeks to do.…”

“I thank my hon. Friend for making that point. That is not my understanding of how the Bill works, but the Minister may want to clarify that.”

“I thank my hon. Friend for making that point. That is exactly what we are trying to do. This is not a wrecking amendment; we are just trying to tighten the Bill to ensure that no conflict arises that would damage the participation of English clubs or the national team in future competitions. We know that UEFA is concer…”

“The Minister has outlined clauses 17 and 18 at some length. We had a lengthy debate on clause 17 in relation to our amendment 101. We are naturally disappointed that the amendment, and the time limit that we seek for the provisional licensing, was not agreed to. However, in the interests of time, I will move on to clau…”

“I appreciate that I was asking about a hypothetical situation, but it is an important hypothetical. We are talking about a structure going forward in which clubs will be required to have a licence, and we have had some exchanges on that. This is a serious question: what would the football regulator do if a club said th…”

“I thank the hon. Lady for her intervention, but that is not the point I was making. I am talking about quotas, which is a slightly different thing. We do not think that the regulator should be insisting on quotas, and that is very different from Kick It Out, which has made incredible progress for football over the year…”

“That was a rather long intervention, but I suspect it was probably needed. I appreciate the clarity from the Minister on that point, but in terms of the time limit, we are concerned about the impact of the uncertainty relating to the provisional element. In this situation, we would like that to be a focus of the regula…”

“I do not plan to speak again at length. I appreciate the Minister’s comments, but we are concerned that without a set timetable on the regulator’s granting of a provisional licence, the uncertainty would create a number of issues.”

“I thank the hon. Member for that point. Transfers are a key aspect. If a club is in limbo, it could arguably be at a much bigger disadvantage when the season starts if it had not been able to make transfers because it was uncertain about whether it could compete in the competition. The point is well made. Secondly, the…”

“I beg to move amendment 97, in clause 7, page 5, line 27, at end insert— “(d) conflicts with any regulations or rules of international football governing bodies, including FIFA and UEFA.” This amendment requires the IFR to exercise its functions so as to avoid conflicts with the regulations and rules of international f…”

“No, I do not, and I think the hon. Member slightly misunderstands what the measure is about. It is about the provisional licence, not the full-fat licence. I am not asking the regulator to rush a decision on whether a club should be granted a long-term licence. We are asking for some certainty and some time limits to h…”

“I beg to move amendment 101, in clause 17, page 11, line 27, leave out subsection (9) and insert— “(9) The IFR must make the decision whether to grant a regulated club a provisional operating licence within the period of one month. (10) The IFR may extend the period in subsection (9) by no more than two weeks if it req…”

“We are concerned about unchecked powers, as we have explained at some length, and believe that the House should be able to check those powers. We are concerned about the lack of standardisation. I fear that, by treating clubs differently depending on their circumstances, the regulator will be left open to legal challen…”

“I appreciate the points that the Minister is making. Another point that I made—this is not political—was about the standardisation of requests, which would allow clubs to prepare on the basis of what they expect the regulator to ask and ensure consistency between clubs. Will the Minister tell us how that might work?”