An MP raised the Hillsborough tragedy after the Government said it was doing ‘everything in our power’ to reverse a ban on Israeli fans attending a match over safety concerns
A Labour MP who represents Hillsborough families has warned of a “slippery slope when safety concerns are ignored” at football stadiums.
Paula Barker, the MP for Liverpool Wavertree, raised the 1989 tragedy after the Government said it was doing “everything in our power” to allow Israeli fans to attend a football match in Birmingham next month.
It comes after Maccabi Tel Aviv fans were banned from a Europa League match against Aston Villa over safety concerns.
Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy said the Government will find the resources to support police and ensure fans can attend next month’s match. She said she was “appalled” the decision was based in no small part on the risk posed because the fans are Israeli and Jewish.
Speaking in the Commons, Ms Barker raised the Hillsborough disaster, which saw 97 Liverpool fans die in a fatal crush at an FA Cup semi-final against Nottingham Forest. She highlighted how safety concerns had been raised and ignored the year before.
In relation to the Maccabi Tel Aviv case, she added: “We have safety advisory groups for a reason, and it’s a slippery slope when safety concerns are ignored, and I believe unprecedented for a Government to try to overturn such advice.”
READ MORE: Tel Aviv fans could see Aston Villa ban overturned as Keir Starmer weighs in
The MP pressed Ms Nandy on whether she had seen the safety advice that led to Birmingham’s Safety Advisory Group banning fans – and she highlighted how a match was cancelled in Israel last night involving Maccabi Tel Aviv amid reports of violent riots.
Ms Nandy rejected the suggestion that the Government was trying to overturn safety advice and insisted that ministers are working as hard as possible to ensure the game can go ahead safely. She added that she and the Government “take the safety of all fans and the wider community with the utmost seriousness”.
The Cabinet minister told Ms Barker: “She says that we’re trying to overturn the police advice. We’re doing absolutely no such thing… We are working with West Midlands Police and local partners to make sure that we take into account the risks that they have raised in order to ensure that this game can go ahead safely with both sets of fans present.”
But what she said: “What is completely different about this case is not just that it’s the first time since the early 2000s in this country that a decision has been taken to ban entirely away fans from attending a game, it’s that the risk assessment is based in no small part on the risk posed to those fans that are attending who support Maccabi Tel Aviv because they are Israeli and because they are Jewish. Now, we should be appalled by that and never allow it to stand.”
Elsewhere, Ms Nandy said resources will not determine whether Maccabi Tel Aviv football fans can attend the match as this was also about the “fundamental principle that nobody in our country will be excluded”.
Responding to an urgent question from the Tories, she told the Commons: “This decision was not made in a vacuum. It is set against the backdrop of rising antisemitism here and across the world, and an attack on a synagogue in Manchester in which two innocent men were killed.
“It has a real world impact on a community who already feel excluded and afraid. It is therefore completely legitimate to support the independence of the police to conduct that risk assessment and to question the conclusion that follows when it excludes the people at the heart of that risk.
“Following the decision last week, the Government has been working with West Midlands Police and Birmingham City Council to support them to consider all the options available, and to tell us what resources are needed to manage the risks, to ensure fans from both teams can attend safely. If the assessment is revised, the safety advisory group will meet again to discuss options.”
She added: “It is not for the Government to assess the risks surrounding this football match, but we are clear that resources will not be the determining factor in whether Maccabi Tel Aviv fans can be admitted, and that this fundamental principle that nobody in our country will be excluded from participating in public life because of who they are must be upheld.”
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