Mims Davies named Sports Minister after Tracey Crouch's dramatic resignation over gambling clampdown delay
2 min read
Theresa May has named loyalist MP Mims Davies as the new Sports Minister after Tracey Crouch quit over the Government's decision to delay a clampdown fixed-odds betting terminals (FOBTs).
Eastleigh MP Ms Davies takes on the role after her predecessor quit when ministers decided to delay a reduction to the maximum stakes on the addictive betting machines.
Ms Davies will be replaced in her former role as a junior Wales Office minister and assistant government whip by Nigel Adams.
The appointment comes as Mrs May moves to head off growing anger among her own backbenches over the decision not to press ahead with the stake reduction from £100 to £2 until October 2019, disappointing campaigners who had hoped for an April 2019 introduction.
In her resignation letter Ms Crouch said the decision would result in another £1.6bn being lost to the “crack cocaine” gambling machines, and said another two people "will tragically take their live every day due to gambling related problems" during the delay.
She also took aim at her own party, saying that she believed the delay was being driven by “commitments made by others to those with registered interests.”
But Chancellor Philip Hammond defended the delay on Monday, saying that a “sensible” and “orderly” process was needed to offset the thousands of jobs which will be lost as a result of the stake reduction.
During a grilling from the Treasury Committee he said: “I have absolutely no love for these machines. I think they are terrible things.
"But Government has to manage this process in an orderly and sensible way. We are looking at a measure which will have a very significant impact on the industry."
He added: "The industry’s own estimate is that between 15,000 and 21,000 jobs will be lost as a consequence of the elimination of FOBTs. It is very clear that there will be a significant number of jobs lost and a significant number of High Street betting ships that will close...
"There has to be a balance between the different interests involved."
PoliticsHome Newsletters
PoliticsHome provides the most comprehensive coverage of UK politics anywhere on the web, offering high quality original reporting and analysis: Subscribe
