Jeremy
Corbyn, Leader of the Labour Party, will visit Hackney Marshes football pitches
today to highlight Labour’s manifesto commitment to ensure 5 per cent of the
Premier League’s domestic and international television rights’ income is
diverted to the grassroots game.

The
pledge will help the next generation of players and coaches by drastically
improving facilities and pitches.

Labour
has also committed today to working with train operating companies,
broadcasters and clubs to develop a new ‘Flexible Football Ticket’ so that fans
experience minimal disruption when games are switched. This will stop fans
being left with worthless train tickets and having to fork out again for new tickets
when games are re-arranged at short notice.

The
visit is taking place on the same day as the FA Cup Final.

The
party’s manifesto also commits Labour to:

•          
Put fans at the heart of their clubs – by legislating for accredited supporters
trusts to be able to appoint and remove at least two club directors and to
purchase shares when clubs change hands. We will also review fan participation
in sports governance more widely.

•          
Fix the broken ticketing market – by enforcing anti-bot legislation and
implementing the recommendations of the Waterson review to ensure fair
opportunities for fans to buy tickets.

•          
Improve access provision for disabled sports fans – by ensuring that rapid
improvements are made and by prioritising action to make clubs comply with
obligations under the 2010 Equality Act.

•          
Ensure that investment and support is given to grassroots women’s football so
as many women and girls as possible can benefit from participating in football

Jeremy
Corbyn, Leader of the Labour Party, will say:

“The
FA Cup final marks the greatest day of the football season. Millions of
football fans across the country, including myself, are eagerly awaiting kick
off this evening at Wembley.

“Despite
the game we all love receiving lucrative domestic and international TV deals,
the grassroots game has been shamefully starved of funding over recent years.

“Too
often, youth football teams cannot find pitches to play on and when they do
they are expensive and the facilities are not fit for purpose. All-weather
pitches are like gold-dust and coaching badges can cost unaffordable amounts.
Under these circumstances, it is no surprise we are not nurturing the talent
that we all know exists within the beautiful game.

“To
address this lack of funding and lack of facilities, Labour in government will
ensure that 5 per cent of domestic and international TV rights money is
diverted to the grassroots game. This will ensure the footballing talent of
young girls and boys is harnessed, and football is a game for the many, not the
few.”

Dr
Rosena Allin-Khan, Labour’s Shadow Sports Minister, will say:

“Football
is our national game – it brings people together from all ages and all walks of
life. We have one of the most commercially successful leagues in the world, but
all too often pitches and grassroots community facilities are run down and in a
state of disrepair.

“Without
supporters, amateurs and young players, football would be barren. As broadcast
revenues and the popularity of our leagues increase, so should the support that
goes back into the grassroots game. We have to make sure we can develop future
British playing and coaching talent, in order to make sure our leagues stay
competitive for years to come.”

Ten people were trapped when a building under construction collapsed in Jinan, capital of east China’s Shandong Province, Saturday morning, rescuers said.

Six of them have been pulled out of the debris.

The search and rescue is continuing.

The accident occurred at around 9 a.m. in Shaodong Village of Shizhong District.

One of the central themes of the Conservative Manifesto is to promote growth and prosperity more widely around the UK. This is an aim I strongly support. This week the ONS brought out some figures to remind us just how much needs to be done to generate more income and wealth in large parts of our country. The ONS calculated tax revenue per head by region, and public expenditure per head by region.

The figures revealed that the UK’s single currency area is also an important transfer union, switching large sums collected in taxation from the richer areas to the lower income areas through higher levels of spending. London topped the lists for tax revenue per person, contributing £15,756 per head. The South East provided £12 449, and the East of England £10,833. At the other end of the revenue table was Wales at £7986 per person, the North East at £8200 and Northern Ireland at £8581.

On the expenditure side The South East was bottom at £10582 per head, with the East of England a close second at £10592. The highest spending per head was in Northern Ireland at £14018, and second Scotland at £13054. London at £12 686 was relatively high, but London still contributed the largest amount net to the rest of the country owing to its very high levels of tax contribution. Only three regions put in more revenue than they took out in spending, London, the South East and the East of England.

The Scottish figures in the past when they have been calculated have been the subject of some controversy, as you could either allocate most of the oil revenue to Scotland, or allocate it according to population on the grounds that it is a national resource for the UK. Last year, the year for these figures, it makes no difference how you do it as there was no North Sea revenue.

I draw several conclusions from this. The first is you do need large transfers of money in a currency union to make it work. The absence of these transfers in the Euro area lies behind the rolling Euro crisis we have seen in recent years as the zone struggles to find ways to send the surplus from the rich areas to the rest of the Union.

The second is the gap between London and the rest is high. We need to help bring the others up by adopting policies that promote more enterprise and new business in the lower income areas.

The third is transfers help balance things up, but they do not in themselves correct the longer term imbalances which stem from too little successful private sector business in the lower income areas. It is that issue which education, training, transport, planning and other policies need to address to encourage more businesses to expand their provision in the areas away from London.

Successful modern cities are particularly good at attracting or producing well educated and highly trained people, and linking them up with entrepreneurs. Cities like Oxford and Cambridge are showing the way outside London. This raises the average income which creates demand and jobs across the spectrum of economic activity.
Published and promoted by Fraser Mc Farland on behalf of John Redwood, both at 30 Rose Street Wokingham RG40 1 XU

The Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee on Saturday said it has appointed Cai Qi as the secretary of the Beijing Municipal Committee of the CPC, replacing Guo Jinlong.

Guo takes the post as deputy director of the Central Commission for Guiding Ethic and Cultural Progress, read a statement from the CPC Central Committee.

He will no longer serve in the CPC’s Beijing municipal committee and its standing committee, it said.