Extracts from Westminster Hall debate on Football: Safe Standing - June 25
Tuesday, 26 June 2018 08:25
Liz McInnes (Heywood and Middleton) (Lab):...We must also look at
our own stadiums and how they are adapting to the modern game. My
recent visits to Old Trafford have involved standing in the singing
section, and as somebody said to me earlier today, there is a
reason why people stand up in church to sing hymns. The seats in
that singing section are not used by anybody, and those fans would
be far safer in a railed safe standing area than being hemmed in by
tip-up seats. Hon. Members who have...Request free trial
(Heywood and Middleton)
(Lab):...We must also look at our own stadiums and how
they are adapting to the modern game. My recent visits to Old
Trafford have involved standing in the singing section, and as
somebody said to me earlier today, there is a reason why people
stand up in church to sing hymns. The seats in that singing section
are not used by anybody, and those fans would be far safer in a
railed safe standing area than being hemmed in by tip-up seats.
Hon. Members who have visited Wembley stadium will have encountered this
problem too, and I am told that the same thing happens at
Manchester City’s Etihad stadium, although I am not a frequent
visitor to that particular ground. [Interruption.] My hon. Friend
the Member for Nottingham North (Alex Norris) says that they would
not have me...
(Bassetlaw) (Lab):...As it
happens, I am a football fan who for 25 years has sat only twice.
Because one of those occasions led to a very unlucky defeat, I
refuse to do so other than when one could only get a ticket a
Wembley. There is not a corner, wall or even roof of Elland Road
where I have not stood. The concept of standing is very pleasant
and the concept of seating is not...
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for
Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (Tracey Crouch):...It is
useful to start by summarising very briefly the framework in which
we operate. As colleagues have heard, Lord Justice Taylor’s report
following the terrible Hillsborough disaster ushered in the
all-seater policy for the top two divisions of English football, as
well as Wembley stadium and the Principality
stadium in Cardiff. The wider safety regime, which includes the
all-seater policy, also took into account other tragic events, such
as that at Bradford. No Government of any political persuasion
should ever be complacent about safety or other measures that have
enabled us to achieve such consistently high levels of safety since
the all-seater regulations were introduced. That must be paramount
in our considerations...
To read the whole debate, CLICK
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