Government faces budget defeat over FOBT stake cut
Row over FOBTs takes new turn with cross-party rebellion
A group of 87 UK MPs, including political heavyweights Boris Johnson, David Davies and Jacob Rees-Mogg, have signed two bills to bring forward FOBT stake cuts to April 2019 from the previously agreed roll-out date of October 2019.
The bills were first set down by former work and pensions secretary Iain Duncan Smith, Scottish National Party MP Ronnie Cowan and Labour MP Carolyn Harris.
Crucially, all 10 Democratic Unionist Party MPs have also signed the bill, prompting political journalists to suggest the government was facing its first Budget defeat since 1978.
Opposition to the delayed stake cuts has been building since the departure of former sports minister Tracey Crouch, who resigned in protest less than a week after Chancellor Philip Hammond revealed the delays in the October 2018 budget.
A parliamentary vote on the bill will take place on 21 November.
There’s likely to be a cross-party amendment to bring FOBT stake reduction forward to April 2019. The bookies are going to have to go through a Parliamentary vote to get their delay. And I’ll tell you, honestly, I will love it if we beat them. LOVE IT
— Matt Zarb-Cousin (@mattzarb) November 2, 2018
In a related development, questions are being asked about the influence that an industry report commissioned by the Association of British Bookmakers, and written by accountancy firm KPMG, played in the debate.
The report examined the impact that FOBT cuts would have on the UK bookmaking industry.
In an interview with The Guardian newspaper, Matt Zarb-Cousin, founder of Gamban and chair of the Campaign for Fairer Gambling, said: “The job loss estimates by KPMG are greatly exaggerated, but irrespective of that the Chancellor should be aware that FOBT spend yields far fewer jobs than if that spend was diverted to the wider economy as a result of a £2 cap.”
Labour MP Tom Watson also called into question the KPMG report, tweeting:
KPMG ignored the facts on FOBTs, ignored the truth, ignored the people affected – and took the money. But the real travesty is that this government was willing to believe this secret report – to believe anything that suited their money-raking chums.https://t.co/vvAZm4zyOu
— Tom Watson (@tom_watson) November 12, 2018