Parliamentary debate on affordability checks held today

Later today, the UK Parliament will debate the implementation of betting affordability risk checks after an e-petition to that effect reached 100,000 signatures.

The British Horseracing Authority has urged MPs to take part, warning that up to 1,000 rural jobs could be lost if the checks were to be introduced.

“We look forward to the issue of affordability checks being properly debated by MPs,” said BHA chief executive, Julie Harrington. “The BHA has worked tirelessly with stakeholders from across the sport to ensure as many parliamentarians as possible have been contacted in advance of the debate and urged to take part.”

Writing last Friday for The Sun, former Tory MP and chairman of Countryside Alliance Nick Herbert wrote: “Most people who bet do so within their means, and there is no reason to restrict their pleasure.

“This government doesn’t see it this way, because it has a worrying new addiction of its own — interfering unnecessarily with people’s lives.

“It’s extraordinary that a Conservative government should think it is right to target individuals and, by force of law, prohibit them from choosing how to spend their own money.”