MP bids for April amendment on betting terminals
THE UK Government may have to stage a humiliating U-turn to avoid a defeat in a key Budget vote next week.
Swansea East Labour MP Carolyn Harris is pushing for the Government to bring forward the date on which the maximum bet on a fixedodds betting terminal (FOBT) will be brought down from £100 to £2 and her demands are backed by senior Conservatives including Jacob Rees-Mogg and Boris Johnson.
More than 100 MPs have now signed an amendment championed by Ms Harris and cross-party colleagues. She fears that if the cut in the maximum stake does not take place until October, more people will take their own lives and she is pushing for the change to be introduced in April.
Tracey Crouch quit as Sports Minister in protest at the October date and fellow Tories from different wings of the party have joined MPs from across the party spectrum to demand that the date is brought forward.
Ms Harris, the deputy leader of Welsh Labour, said MPs had come looking for her to sign the amendment because they are “really anxious to be part of this because everybody can see the immorality of the situation”.
She chairs the all-party parliamentary group on FOBTs and the effort is also backed by former Welsh Secretary and Clwyd West Conservative MP David Jones and ex-Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith. Signatories to the amendment include former cabinet ministers David Davis, Priti Patel, Sir Michael Fallon, Nicky Morgan and Justine Greening.
Ms Harris, who came to UK-wide prominence through her battle for an end to council fees for child burials, said: “It would be a bit of an achievement if we do succeed, wouldn’t it?”
She expects the government to bow to pressure on the issue, saying: “I think they’ve got to... If they don’t do it of their own volition this week and we do have to take it to a vote on Tuesday, then I am very confident we will win that vote.
“Is it really the issue the government want to go to the wall on?”
The betting terminals are understood to generate £1.8bn in revenue a year, of which £400m goes to the Treasury.
Setting out why she thought so many MPs were prepared to oppose the government, she said: “The machines are dangerous and addictive and they are immoral... “Six months may not seem long to us but six months if you are an addicted gambler is a hell of a long time... It’s a fight I’m not prepared to give up...
“I am absolutely determined that we will beat them on this.”
Mr Duncan Smith said in a statement: “These proposed amendments to the Finance Bill show the sheer strength of feeling in Parliament on fixed-odds betting terminals.
“I hope the government now sees sense and does the right thing.”