Plans for independent football regulator halted due to general election | Football politics
Plans for a independent regulator of English football It will not progress further in Parliament, it will be announced, as the Football Governance Bill is on hold as a result of the general election.
Commons Leader Penny Mordaunt will on Thursday confirm the bills that will become law before parliament is dissolved next week and the FGB is not expected to be on the list.
Despite making rapid progress in the House, and with estimates that the bill could have completed passage in a matter of weeks, there are too many stages left in the process for it to be incorporated into the scrubbing process, government sources have suggested.
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Whitewashing is the accelerated process by which, according to the opposition, the government accelerates the passage of remaining legislation before the end of parliament's term.
The Football Governance Bill has the support of MPs from all parties and to this point in the parliamentary process there has been broad consensus on its content. The Labor Party, which launched its election campaign at Gillingham's Priestfield Stadium on Thursday, has previously said that if elected they would introduce a regulator if this government had not done so.
However, uncertainty remains over whether an incoming government would take up the bill as is or try to rewrite it. This could lead to another prolonged period of lobbying by football stakeholders and further delay the introduction of a regulator.
Premier League and EFL remain at odds over regulator's proposed backstop enforcement powers financial redistribution from the top of the pyramid. Meanwhile, campaign group Fair Game had tabled amendments to the bill calling for more equitable financial distribution to be part of the regulator's mandate. These details are likely to be issues that will be passed to the next government to resolve.
