Queen's Speech December 2019 - Birmingham Commonwealth Games Bill

Birmingham Commonwealth Games Bill

The purpose of the Bill is to:

● Provide a small number of temporary measures essential to the successful operation of the 2022 Commonwealth Games.

The main benefits of the Bill would be:

• ●  Managing public investment in the Games and offsetting the costs to the taxpayer by providing protections for commercial rights.

• ●  Ensuring that during the Games, transport works efficiently for people living, working and visiting Birmingham and the West Midlands.

• ●  Ensuring that Games tickets are accessible and affordable by prohibiting the unauthorised resale of tickets.

  The main elements of the Bill are:

• ●  Ensuring that financial assistance given to the Birmingham 2022 Organising Committee continues to comply with spending rules set out by the Treasury.

• ●  Creating a criminal offence for the unauthorised sale of Games tickets.

• ●  Restricting unauthorised advertising and trading in and around Games locations.

• ●  Creating a civil offence for unauthorised association with the Games.

• ●  Setting a statutory basis for the Games Transport Plan, creating bespoke traffic regulatory powers for Games purposes and providing a safeguard power for the Secretary of State.

• ●  Ensuring that the Organising Committee provides regular updates on its progress towards delivery of the Games.

  Territorial extent and application

● The Bill’s provisions relating to transport, advertising and trading would extend and apply to England only. The provisions on Organising Committee financial assistance and reporting, unauthorised association and ticketing would extend and apply to the whole of the UK, and for ticketing, also to activity overseas by UK persons.

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Key facts

• ●  The Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games will be the biggest sporting event ever held in the city, featuring thousands of world-class athletes and over a million spectators. With an estimated TV audience of 1.5 billion, the Games will showcase Birmingham, the West Midlands and the entire country to the rest of the world as a place to live, work, study and do business.

• ●  The Government and local partners are investing £778 million into the city and region to stage the Games. In addition, the Perry Barr Commonwealth Games Village development will be supported by a further £165 million of Government funding.

• ●  Birmingham 2022 is set to have the largest ever female and para-sport programme in history, building on the inspiring successes of Glasgow 2014 and Gold Coast 2018 and leaving a lasting legacy for Birmingham and the West Midlands.

• ●  The UK has a fantastic track record of delivering major international sporting events, including London 2012, the 2015 Rugby World Cup, the 2017 World Athletics Championships, the 2019 Netball and Cricket World Cups, as well as the UCI Road World Cycling Championships.

• ●  The Government and the Prime Minister, then Mayor of London, played instrumental roles in delivering a fantastic Olympics and Paralympics in London in 2012, showing the UK at its very best. This showed the world how the UK can brilliantly stage the biggest events in world sport and the 2022 Commonwealth Games will further cement our reputation for this.

• ●  The London 2012 Games brought significant economic benefits, inspired young people to participate in sport and developed the Olympic Park as a thriving new district of London with thousands of new homes and tens of thousands of jobs created.