Sporting Events Bill [HL]

Lord Barber of Chittlehampton Excerpts

2nd reading
Wednesday 3rd June 2026 Lords Chamber

[Lord Barber of Chittlehampton (Lab)]

My Lords, I rise in strong support of the Bill and my noble friend’s excellent introduction to it. It is rather humbling and daunting to follow the legendary noble Baroness, Lady Grey-Thompson. She is an inspiration to us all, in both what she did as an athlete and what she has done since, and I congratulate her on her speech.

Major global sporting events are utterly transformative —economically, socially, reputationally and inspirationally. Listen to Emil Zátopek, star of London 1948, winner of golds in the 5,000 and 10,000 metres:

“It was a liberation of spirit to be there in London. After those dark days of the war … the revival of the Olympics was as if the sun had come out”.


Sport can do this. Four years later, he won three more gold medals in Helsinki.

As a 10 year-old boy, I saw England beat Mexico on the way to winning the World Cup in 1966. The inspiration has never left me. As a pro bono member of the FA’s performance advisory group since 2016, I declare an interest: I am hoping, as I do every four years, needless to say, that we might win the World Cup again this year. I wish Scotland well as well.

The inspirational Sebastian Coe and the blessed Tessa Jowell—several other noble Lords have referred to how much we miss her—brought us London 2012. Everybody has talked about what wonderful events the Olympics and Paralympics were—Britain at its best. Even the London cab drivers stopped moaning. Since then, in football alone, we have had the Women’s Euros, which transformed the legacy of football for women and girls, as the noble Baroness mentioned just now, and the men’s Euros final. We know that the UK and Ireland will co-host the men’s Euros in 2028, and I hope that in 2035 we will host the Women’s World Cup. Last year the brilliant Women’s Rugby World Cup was here. Each such event creates a massive opportunity for our country to promote our sport, hospitality, values, health and well-being.

As the chair of Somerset County Cricket Club until recently, I should mention too that, starting imminently, this country is hosting the Women’s T20 Cricket World Cup. In participation it will be by far the biggest event of its kind, with over a quarter of a million attendances and tickets already sold in 52 countries. More importantly, over 500,000 girls and women from diverse backgrounds will participate in related events; 236,000 schoolchildren already have. This is a huge step towards the ECB’s ambition for cricket to become the most diverse and inclusive sport in the country.

This, by the way, is just one aspect of the transformation of cricket, which may be the fastest-growing sport in the world, driven in part by becoming an Olympic sport in LA 2028. Extraordinary things are happening. Last week Nepal beat China at cricket. Recently, I was talking to a good county cricket bowler who was retiring. I asked, “What next?” He said, “I’ve just been interviewed for the role of fast bowling coach to the German women’s cricket team”. Imagine the headlines if we ever lose to Germany at cricket.

We the UK need to be ready and able to continue hosting these events in an increasingly sport-mad world where the competition to host them is becoming ever fiercer. No other country can boast our history of global sporting leadership—the Paralympics have been mentioned—but winning bids in the future will require many more world-class, accessible, environmentally sustainable venues, brilliant organisation and logistics, top facilities for athletes, fantastic media and sponsorship, outstanding travel and hospitality, socially inclusive promotion, ticketing and pricing—unlike for the forthcoming World Cup—and discreet, effective security for athletes, fans and spectators. If we get even one of these wrong, it will threaten not just that event but our ability to attract future events, which is one of the reasons why the Bill is so important. If we are to assure the owners of these events that we can host them better than anywhere else in the world, it is essential for the UK and its Government to stand four-square behind every single bid to assure it and actively support it in the various ways I have just mentioned.

On 3 September 2018, the cycling Tour of Britain came to my local town, Barnstaple, where I was able to introduce the young cyclists from our North Devon Wheelers club to Geraint Thomas, the brilliant Welsh cyclist and that year’s winner of the Tour de France. He is a wonderful man. Inspired by that moment and by their own talent and hard work, those young cyclists have gone on to cycling success in the years that followed—and the Tour de France is coming. The most profound impact of major sporting events is these moments: the memories made, the ambitions spurred, the potential unlocked, the legacy. This is why I hope we will see overwhelming support for the Bill.

To finish where I started, Emil Zátopek’s most succinct and memorable advice back then to his fellow athletes also applies to Governments when the going gets tough:

“When you can’t keep going, go faster”.


I commend the Bill to the House.