MARTIN HANNAN

It won’t be much less now.

The UK Government also takes around £860m a year in Lottery duty.

Each week a minimum of £12m is raised for sport and the arts as they get 40 per cent of the Lottery funds raised for good causes. There are existing commitments to support sport and culture and these should be maintained, but no new capital projects should be financed at this time and all possible Lottery cash should be devoted to keeping existing organisations going – and that includes rugby clubs.

The unallocated cash, plus the Treasury waiving its duty and the weekly proceeds from the Lottery for sport and the arts should be put into the emergency fund, the aim of which should be to keep sports clubs and cultural centres and groups operating until the damned virus subsides.

Using these three sources of Lottery cash, a fund worth £1bn could be created over the next year, and that is without diverting Lottery money from the other good causes such as heritage projects or taking away existing Lottery support for charities.

(Oh and by the way, why doesn’t somebody like the Disasters Emergency Committee not co-ordinate an overarching appeal for aid to charities in the UK as the virus starts to kill and damage the elderly in particular? Shouldn’t charity begin at home this year?)

The sport and culture emergency fund would be a temporary measure and could work by clubs applying for bailout loans which could be paid back when, say, matches actually happen or the season starts again.

Individual athletes could also benefit to tide them over until their sport is up and running again.

We really do have a national crisis, so it is up to the leaders of our sports’ governing bodies and our political leaders to take drastic action to help those sporting industries which are undoubtedly going to suffer in the weeks and months ahead.

The beauty of this plan is that nobody hurts, except the Treasury which the Chancellor says will be paying for everything anyway.

We all know the pain and anguish that was caused when just one Scottish football club, albeit it a biggie, went bust in 2012.

Using the National Lottery, the government could help stop that situation recurring on a bigger scale, as it seems set to do.

The SRU have shown the way forward. Let’s use the National Lottery to keep sport and culture going through an emergency hardship fund.