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.
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.”
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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 as our financial markets 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 matches being shown live on UK television at the traditional kick-off time on Saturdays.
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The regulator would have powers to force Premier League sides to bail out cash-strapped 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 is trying to sink it.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
