HC Deb 20 April 1988 vol 131 cc829-31
15. Mr. Pendry

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment when he will next meet the chairman of the Sports Council to discuss sport in the inner cities.

Mr. Moynihan

I hold regular meetings with the chairman of the Sports Council on a range of sporting issues. The specific issue of sport in the inner cities is the subject of a review which I have recently begun. The membership of the review team is made up of business men, athletes and sports administrators, including two members of the Sports Council.

Mr. Pendry

When the Minister next meets the chairman of the Sports Council, will he discuss the poor provision for athletics in the inner cities, which must be a contributory factor in the importation of a South African runner, Zola Budd, and her acquiring British nationality in order to qualify for the Olympic games? Will the Minister stand by all those British athletes, many of whom come from the inner cities, who have toiled hard to qualify for the Seoul Olympics? Will he also back the IAAF's decision in the Budd affair and stand as firmly behind that decision as he did behind the Thatcher Government boycott of the Olympic Games in 1980?

Mr. Moynihan

The BAAB has upheld the Gleneagles agreement. The specific issue for its consideration with regard to Zola Budd relates to the IAAF's interpretation of "taking part". It is not a matter for the Government.

Mr. John Carlisle

Does my hon. Friend agree that the Sports Council and the British Amateur Athletic Board have done admirable work in the inner cities, but that the reputation of both organisations, including the board, will be greatly enhanced if they stand firm in objecting to the proposal by the IAAF to ban Zola Budd? Many British athletes would support the British board if it took that step.

Mr. Moynihan

I am sure that the BAAB will have heard clearly what my hon. Friend has had to say.

Ms. Abbott

Does my hon. Friend not agree—[Interruption.]

Mr. Speaker

Order. We are listening to the hon. Lady.

Ms. Abbott

Does the Minister agree that Zola Budd, far from being a poor little girl, as one Government Member said of her, is in fact a walking, talking and running public relations stunt for apartheid in South Africa? It would be a slap in the face for the hundreds of black athletes who run for Britain and the Commonwealth if the Government were not seen to support both the letter and the spirit of the Gleneagles agreement.

Mr. Moynihan

I strongly disagree with the hon. Lady's personal view of Zola Budd. As for the Gleneagles agreement, the Government are committed, along with Commonwealth countries, to uphold that agreement, which has nothing to do with the specific decision that the BAAB has to face on Sunday.

Mr. Nicholas Winterton

Will my hon. Friend accept that no good will be done for sport in the inner cities or anywhere else in the United Kingdom, or throughout the world, if an innocent but very talented young athlete is treated in a disgraceful way by any international board when she has committed no offence? Is it not wrong, as we have seen with terrorism, to give in to blackmail?

Mr. Moynihan

The House has clearly heard the comments of my hon. Friend.

Mr. Denis Howell

I am always here when needed. May I ask the Minister to ensure that, in any discussions concerning Zola Budd, he will not repeat the Government's tragic mistakes of 1980 in respect of the Moscow Olympics, which has alienated international sporting opinion from this country ever since? Does he accept that the International Amateur Athletics Federation has an absolute duty to protect sport from any taint of apartheid? Does he further accept that the Government have a duty to protect the rights of every other British sports man and sports woman taking part in this year's Olympic Games?

Mr. Moynihan

The right hon. Member knows full well that the decisions to be taken on this issue are a matter for the governing bodies. That must be right, and that view should be shared on both sides of the House. We need to await the outcome of the meeting held by the BAAB on Sunday and we shall carefully consider the situation then, to decide whether, so far as the Gleneagles agreement is concerned, it becomes a matter for the Government.