ENGLAND CRICKET TOUR OF ZIMBABWE: 'OUR VIEW IS CLEAR'

Let me introduce Tim Lamb, Chief Executive of the England and Wales Cricket Board, David Morgan, the Board's Chairman, and Tessa Jowell, Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport.

I am grateful to Mr Morgan and Mr Lamb for coming in this afternoon to explain to us the position regarding the proposed tour of Zimbabwe by the England team in November. Our meeting comes after a series of contacts between officials from the Cricket Board and the Government which have taken place over the last few months. These discussions will continue.

The England and Wales Cricket Authorities are in an unenviable position. They have explained to us the severe damage that will done to cricket in England and Wales if they withdraw from the tour and, as a result, the team was banned from international matches.

On January 22, following a request from the England and Wales Cricket Board, I wrote to the Board to set out our position on the proposed tour. In that letter I said that the decision whether or not tour must be one for the England and Wales Cricket Board to make. I drew the board's attention to the appalling human rights situation in Zimbabwe and the resulting isolation of that country's government by the international community and in reply to questions in the House of Commons, the Prime Minister and Foreign Office Ministers have said that we would prefer the team not to go.

However, on March 9 and 10, at a meeting in New Zealand, the International Cricket Council introduced a new regulation stipulating that national cricket authorities would be penalised if they withdrew from fixtures without safety or security concerns or a direct instruction from government.

The British government has no such power to instruct people not to leave the country to play sport. We do not have state-run cricket in this country. And nor should we.

The relationship we have in this country is that the Government expresses a view and the sporting authorities make their decisions.

Our view is clear. We would prefer the tour to be postponed until the situation in Zimbabwe improves.

I believe that it is appropriate in such circumstances for the Government to express a view about issues of this kind. The ECB asked us for our opinions and we gave them. But I believe it is right that in our democracy it is for sporting authorities to make the decision in these cases. That is also the route the Australian government has taken in advance of their team's proposed tour of Zimbabwe later this month.

We have great sympathy for the England and Wales Cricket Board, having been presented by the ICC with a choice between touring and facing extremely serious financial penalties.

If cricket in this country were to be damaged by decisions taken by the international cricket authorities, the only people to celebrate would be Robert Mugabe and his regime.

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