MPs call for sides to end fighting.
THE racing and betting industries were yesterday told to stop squabbling over the financial plan on a day when Tote chairman Peter Jones accused BOLA of resorting to a policy of "Gunboat diplomacy".As the war of words escalated over whether Britain's bookmakers had had any input into the plan, both sides were warned of the consequences of continuing disunity.
Tote chairman Jones said it was a "pretty useless exercise to continue sniping away at each other", while prominent racing MPs Llin Golding and Richard Spring said arguments over the merits of the financial plan severely threatened the chances of any concessions from Government.
The veneer of co-operation between racing and betting was blown away on Tuesday when BOLA published a report, commissioned at a cost of pounds 35,000 from leading accountancy firm Coopers & Lybrand, which savaged the "highly dubious" arguments of the financial plan, compiled by new BHB chairman Peter Savill.
The Coopers & Lybrand report, published on the day Savill chaired his first board meeting, said the case for an extra pounds 80 million from Government did "not stand close analysis" and that the financial plan was "fundamentally flawed".
Yesterday BOLA director general Tom Kelly directed further criticism at Savill when disputing his claim that the betting industry was "kept fully informed" of the progress of the financial plan.
Such disputes would only damage racing's case in Westminster, the two MPS warned. Horseracing and betting are inextricably linked. There would be more sympathy in Government circles if they didn't squabble in public," said Tory MP Richard Spring.
But Spring did express some support for the financial plan when saying: "However you interpret the figures you can only really look at what happens in practice.
"Prize-money in this country remains so poor that you have some of the leading owners indicating their dissatisfaction and threatening to depart.
"That is more indicative of reality than the interpretation of any report."
Llin Golding, treasurer of the all-party Racing and Bloodstock Committee, also called for "closer co-operation" between the two sides.
The Labour MP also made the dramatic call for Savill to "shelve the plan" and "keep it on the back-burner".
She added that she hoped Savill would "take note" of BOLA's criticism's of the financial plan. "Set it to one side, it seems to have upset a lot of people. The Government is not going to give him pounds 80 million," she said. "In the short time that he is in the country, Savill should talk to people, listen to them, and use his plan as a starting point."
There was some support for Savill yesterday from Tote chairman Peter Jones, who shared his view about the lack of consultation between BOLA and the BHB about the Coopers & Lybrand report.
Jones, whose off-course division is not included in BOLA's membership, said: "The most disappointing thing is that BOLA didn't find it in themselves to sit down and talk through their views and try and find more areas of proper agreement.
"They seem to prefer a return to the style of gunboat diplomacy. It is a weakness of racing that we have been unable to present a unanimous view to Westminster. On the occasions we have, it has tended to be successful.
"It really does seem to be a pretty useless exercise to continue sniping at each other. To have this continuous warfare is counter-productive."
 Printer friendly
 Cite/link
 Email
 Feedback
| |
| Title Annotation: | Sports |
|---|---|
| Author: | Griffiths, Richard |
| Publication: | The Racing Post (London, England) |
| Date: | Jun 11, 1998 |
| Words: | 563 |
| Previous Article: | Chandler: 'I've nothing to hide' Police likely to talk to bookmaker as part of race-fixing probe. |
| Next Article: | BHB plays for time on report; Savill to answer critics today. |