Has the government introduced the Football Governance Bill?

Updated 14 May 2025

Pledge

“We will introduce a Football Governance Bill, which will establish an independent regulator to ensure financial sustainability of football clubs in England”

Labour manifesto, page 87

Our verdict

Labour has made changes to a previous version of the Football Governance Bill and introduced it to the House of Lords, though the bill has not yet passed into law.

What does the pledge mean? 

A Football Governance Bill was first introduced to Parliament by the previous Conservative government in March 2024, but it didn’t pass into law before Parliament was dissolved ahead of the general election. That bill would have established an independent regulator

In its election manifesto Labour pledged to “introduce a Football Governance Bill, which will establish an independent regulator to ensure financial sustainability of football clubs in England”. 

Although the pledge specifically referred to the regulation of football clubs in England, it’s worth noting that some Welsh football teams play in English football leagues. The Department for Culture, Media and Sport has told Full Fact that the regulatory regime will apply to clubs in the top five tiers of English men’s football, which does include some Welsh teams

What progress has been made?

Given this pledge was only to “introduce” a bill, we’ve rated it as “Achieved”. 

On 24 October 2024, the government introduced what it called a “strengthened” Football Governance Bill in the House of Lords, which, if passed, will establish an independent regulator.

This bill made some changes to the version introduced earlier in the year by the Conservatives, such as requiring clubs to provide “effective engagement” with supporters over changes to ticket prices, and removing the need for the regulator to “consider government foreign policy and trade when approving club takeovers”. 

The bill has not yet become law, however. It has passed through the House of Lords and, as of May 2025, is progressing through the Commons.

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Has the government introduced the Football Governance Bill?

Progress displayed publicly—so every single person in this country can judge our performance on actions, not words.

Sir Keir Starmer, Prime Minister – 24 September 2024