A NEW football regulator would destroy the Premier League, ministers have been warned.
Reform UK MP Rupert Lowe said a quango would strangle the competitiveness of one of Britain’s best assets.
3
He insisted the league had built itself up without “interference from government or the state” and did not need it now.
Mr Lowe — former chairman of Southampton FC and FA Board member — said setting up any regulator would be an own goal.
Speaking to The Sun’s Never Mind The Ballots show, he said: “The Premier League’s an unbelievable success.
“It brings huge soft power to Britain, it brings huge amounts of tax revenue to the Exchequer.”
He then warned that London’s once world-beating financial centre was “destroyed by regulation”.
He asked: “Will the government take responsibility if football goes the same way . . . after they introduce a regulator?
“Light touch self-regulation built the Premier League. Regulation will destroy it.”
Mr Lowe also called for the lifting of the 3pm blackout which forbids big matches being shown live on TV on a Saturday.
The regulator would have powers to force Premier League sides to bail out cash-stripped lower-tier teams, clamp down on dodgy owners and ban clubs joining breakaway super-leagues.
The Tories introduced the Football Governance Bill but have since pulled their support.
Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy is battling to get the legislation through the Lords where a cabal of peers are is trying to sink it.
3
3