Birmingham faces MP criticism surrounding football fan ban

MPs have accused Birmingham City Council of providing a ‘biased picture’ surrounding the decision to ban Israeli football fans from a match against Aston Villa.

Birmingham’s leader and two senior officers were quizzed on Tuesday over the appropriateness of councillors campaigning to ban the match to be sitting on the committee considering whether away fans should be banned.

The decision ahead of the Europa League game between Aston Villa and Maccabi Tel Aviv in November led to a public outcry and criticism from the Prime Minister.

Appearing before the House of Commons Home Affairs Committee the council’s director of law and governance, Anthony Cox, said it was a decision for each committee member to consider if they could make an ‘informed decision’ without ‘predetermining’ the outcome.

The city council’s leader told MPs: ‘I would expect any member who had a perceived conflict of interest to take that on their own responsibility to remove themselves from such a meeting.

‘If I’d been in that position myself I would certainly have recused myself from the meeting.’

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