That's £10m saved on Declan Rice! Arsenal fan Keir Starmer says Labour WON'T slap a 10 per cent tax on Premier League transfers... despite his shadow minister wanting to 'look at' introducing a levy on top clubs
Sir Keir Starmer has dismissed the prospect of Labour introducing a 10 per cent tax on Premier League transfers if his party wins power at the general election.
The Labour leader, who is a keen Arsenal fan, rejected the idea despite one of his shadow ministers having suggested she would 'look at' the proposal.
'Let me just kill it dead, we're not looking at that,' Sir Keir told LBC radio this morning.
Plans for a tax on Premier League clubs buying players from overseas or other top-flight clubs was included in a recent fan-led review of football governance.
If a 10 per cent levy had been in place last summer, it would have cost Arsenal £10million when signing Declan Rice from West Ham for a £100million fee.
Labour's shadow culture and sport secretary Thangham Debbonaire yesterday said she would 'look at everything' proposed in the fan-led review.
Sir Keir Starmer has dismissed the prospect of Labour introducing a 10 per cent tax on Premier League transfers if his party wins power at the general election
If a 10 per cent levy had been in place last summer, it would have cost Arsenal £10million when signing Declan Rice from West Ham for a £100million fee
Labour's shadow culture and sport secretary Thangham Debbonaire, pictured with Sir Keir on a visit to Bristol Rovers, said she would 'look at everything' proposed in a fan-led review
The 2021 fan-led review was chaired by ex-Conservative MP Dame Tracey Crouch, a former sports minister. Among her proposals was a plan for a new 'solidarity transfer levy'
But, speaking this morning, Sir Keir said it was 'not part of our plans for football governance'.
The 2021 fan-led review was chaired by ex-Conservative MP Dame Tracey Crouch, a former sports minister.
Among her proposals for an overhaul of the way football is governed was a plan for a new 'solidarity transfer levy'.
Dame Tracey's report said this would work 'in a similar way to stamp duty' and distribute revenues across the football pyramid and into the game's grassroots.
The review estimated a 10 per cent levy would have raised £160million per year between 2016 and 2021.
This would have been enough to fund a grant to ensure League One and Two clubs broke even – along with grassroots playing facilities for adults and children.
But the proposal received strong pushback from Premier League chief executive Richard Masters, who branded it a 'too radical'.
The Government did not include plans for a new transfer levy in its Football Governance Bill, which was introduced to Parliament in March but was not passed by MPs before the general election was called.
The fan-led review was established following the collapse of Bury Football Club, the Covid crisis, and a push by six English clubs to join a new European Super League.
Labour's manifesto contains a commitment to 'reform football governance', giving fans more of a say in how their clubs are run and introducing an independent regulator – another of Dame Tracey's proposals.
The Conservative manifesto pledges to 'introduce laws to ensure our fans never again face the threat of clubs in England joining breakaway closed-shop competitions and giving them more of a voice through the Independent Football Regulator'.