Labour was warned against watering down the impending football regulator last night after it emerged that the Premier League and top clubs handed giveaways worth more than £100,000 to MPs.

Nine serving Cabinet ministers – including the Prime Minister himself – were among at least 60 MPs to have benefitted from either the Premier League or its member clubs in the last three years.

Bosses working at England’s top footballing division want to see the impending Football Governance Bill – which will see the introduction of a football regulator with powers to sanction clubs – diluted.

The initial proposal for a football regulator was made in 2021.

Since then, Premier League has ramped up its giveaways to parliamentarians, including handing out hospitality and tickets worth up to £4,000 for individual events.

Sir Keir at a match at Manchester City’s Etihad Stadium in March

The Premier League handed out over £11,500 in 2022, £28,000 in 2023 and at least £68,000 in just the first nine months of this year (file photo)

In 2022, the league handed out more than £11,500, which rose to £28,000 the next year and at least £68,000 in the first nine months of 2024. 

This includes free match tickets for Sir Keir Starmer and six other Cabinet ministers, and other events – such as Taylor Swift concerts and the Brit awards – to other frontbenchers.

Clive Betts, the Labour MP who chairs the all-party parliamentary group on football, said the giveaways were ‘clearly part of a campaign’. 

He told the Observer: ‘I don’t think they can influence the regulator being set up, but they can influence what powers it has.’

Last night a government source told the Mail: ‘We are introducing a regulator to protect the future of English football and hospitality doesn’t change that.’

Yesterday Science Secretary Peter Kyle said the Government is ‘trying to meet the expectations that the public has” on donations and freebies to politicians.

Labour MP Clive Betts, who chairs the all-party parliamentary group on football, said the freebies were ‘part of a campaign’

‘What we’re trying to do is adapt to what is the expectations, because expectations of this Labour Government are so much higher than they were of the previous government, for understandable reasons,’ he told Sky News.

‘Everything is declared, we will stick to the rules.’

A Premier League spokesperson said: ‘The Premier League runs a programme of stakeholder engagement with a broad range of individuals including MPs and officials. Like all industries, including many football organisations, this is normal practice.’