At a stormy meeting of the Culture Media & Sport Select Committee this
morning in the House of Commons, David Moffet (Chief Executive of Sport
England which gave £120 million to the Wembley Stadium) said the prospects
for the National Stadium coming to Birmingham "looks extremely remote".

Michael Fabricant says: "This has come about because of the incompetent way
Sport England gave £120 million to Wembley National Stadium Limited. WNSL
is wholly owned by the Football Association yet Sport England asked for no
guarantees from the FA in case the money has to be repaid. It would have to
be repaid if the new Wembley Stadium project does not go ahead. As the land
is not worth £120 million or anything like it, the FA has committed itself
to an agreement to hold all major football events at Wembley for the next 20
years in the existing stadium if the worst comes to the worst in order to
raise the revenue to return the £120 million. That agreement effectively
blows Birmingham’s chances out of the water; there will be no major
football events to be held outside London under the agreement revealed
today.

"In my view, Sport England should never have given public money to Wembley
before first ensuring that it could be repaid. Tessa Jowell, the Secretary
of State who has had access to all these agreements, should have ensured
this was the case. She should have blocked the agreement keeping football
in London. Once again, the Midlands will lose out due to the inaction of
this Government". Even David Moffet admitted in Committee regarding the
relationship between Sport England and WNSL and the FA: "There have been
deficiencies, putting it mildly".

"Why was the Secretary of State prepared to sit back and see £120 million of
public money put at risk? I will now pursue this matter with her to try and
get a fair deal for the public and for Birmingham when we interview her at
noon on Thursday." adds Michael Fabricant.