Conservative MP tells UK government "bring out" White Paper or "drop it"

[The Buzz]

Conservative MP Laurence Robertson has called on the U.K. government to "hurry up and publish" its gambling review white paper as he voiced concerns over the damage to British racing's income from "unintended consequences" of its proposals.

From Racing Post:

Robertson said of the white paper: "I've said to the government either bring it out or drop it. For goodness sake let's see it because everybody is shadow boxing at the moment because we don't know what's there. It's causing a lot of mayhem. The Gambling Commission is trying to take the lead on things which perhaps they need guidance on. It's very worrying."

He added: "I know we have had changes of ministers which has not been helpful but even so, let's have it out, let's have a discussion about it and see where we go from there. There might be quite a lot of things that we can agree on, so let's see it."

Robertson, who is a parliamentary adviser on sport and safer gambling to the Betting and Gaming Council, noted comments by previous gambling minister Paul Scully that it was not for the government to decide how much people should spend on gambling.

He also said he was concerned about the principle behind affordability checks, adding: "Nowhere else do you get asked to produce your income or whether you can afford to buy a bottle of wine or anything else. It's only when you borrow money or seek to borrow money that you have to prove your income or your ability to pay it back.

"We need a more specific approach to deal with people who have or might have problems rather than everybody who has a bet, in the same way that we don't treat everyone who has a drink for alcoholism because they are not alcoholics.

"I think we need to be careful with the philosophy behind all this and, even if we do go down that route, let's discuss it and let's do it properly."

Read more here: https://www.racingpost.com/news/gamb...-aEb6t0U2EnYN/

In a related note, the Compliance + More newsletter today stated that its "sources" suggested the "so-called write-around process, whereby other cabinet ministers and departments are informed of what is being proposed, has not yet started."

It is thought that it would take a number of weeks to complete, which would leave any decision perilously close to the period of government purdah ahead of the local elections on May 4.

[newcustomeroffer]

As the MP for Tewkesbury, which includes Cheltenham, I can understand why he's being vocal. With the Cheltenham Festival a couple of weeks away, it's a big part of the local economy and success or failure of the Festival in the future will be a big thing in his area.

I was half expecting for there to be something released around the white paper right around the time of the Cheltenham Festival just to maximise the impact, but as you say it looks like they're not at that stage yet. We shall see.