Kane leads line as England take the knee
ENGLAND will take the knee before their first Fifa World Cup match against Iran today as the team puts public protests and “inclusivity” at the heart of their campaign.
Gareth Southgate, the manager, last night said his players wanted to send a “strong statement to go around the world” at the tournament, which has been overshadowed by Qatar’s human rights record, particularly its treatment of LGBT people.
Harry Kane, the England captain, will also wear a rainbow-coloured One Love armband in defiance of Fifa, who yesterday warned that the move would breach tournament rules.
FA chiefs were urgently inquiring last night whether Kane would be punished by an instant yellow card.
Southgate said England’s players had decided together to take the knee, an anti-racism gesture that has become widespread at sporting fixtures after the murder of George Floyd in 2020 and the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement. The team had been taking the knee had stopped in September.
“It’s a strong statement that will go around the world for young people, in particular, to see that inclusivity is very important,” he said. The team’s announcement came as Rishi Sunak urged the home nations to “do us proud”.
A TV audience of around 11million is expected to watch England’s first game, which kicks off at 1pm UK time.
Thousands of England fans began arriving in Doha yesterday to support the team, who play USA and Wales in their remaining group matches.
Many flew in from Dubai and plan to return on shuttle flights rather than stay in Doha, where beer has been banned at World Cup stadiums and fan villages
Conservative Party at this time. From the Prime Minister down, the Government has been very clear that we have a settled Brexit solution and that we have no intentions of reopening it,” he said.
However, Lord Mark Price, a former
‘Let’s have economic migration in areas where we aren’t going to get the people and skills at home’
trade minister in the run-up to and after Brexit, said a Swiss-style deal with the EU would be the “right way for us to go forward”.
He called for the Government to adopt a pragmatic approach to establish a good relationship with the EU.
“I’ve always felt that if we weren’t going to rejoin the EU or become a member of the EEA, which means that we would have to adopt again all EU legislation, the Swiss model was the right way for us to go forward,” he told The World This Weekend on Radio 4.
Last week, Jeremy Hunt said that he had “great confidence” that in the years ahead the “[majority] of trade barriers” with the EU would be removed amid moves towards closer economic ties.
But he made clear that the UK would not join the EU single market and, it is understood, has explicitly rejected any arrangements involving alignment with, or adoption of, EU law.
Tony Danker, the CBI’S general secretary, will use the organisation’s conference to urge ministers to end the arguments over Brexit – in particular the unresolved row with the EU over the Northern Ireland protocol – and use immigration to solve worker shortages in a bid to boost growth.
“[I] say to Brexiteers, the best guarantor of Brexit is an economy that grows,” he said. “Let’s have economic migration in areas where we aren’t going to get the people and skills at home any time soon.
“In return, let’s make those visas fixed term.”