- Burnham has often confronted the Premier League and football’s governing bodies.
- In 2023, he wrote to the league urging that Everton’s 10-point deduction for breaching profit and sustainability rules be voided.
- He has expressed confidence in the future of the independent football regulator, established by Nandy and now starting to exercise its powers.
- In 2020, Burnham co-authored a reform manifesto titled “Saving Our Beautiful Game.”
- It proposed, among other measures, creating a strong, independent body to oversee the game’s financial regulation.
- Burnham has long worked with fan groups and founded Supporters Direct, a forerunner of the Football Supporters’ Association.
- He champions wider fan ownership and representation; in 2022 he set up a taskforce to help supporters buy Oldham Athletic.
- The club was ultimately purchased by local businessman Frank Rothwell, with the supporters’ foundation taking a 3% stake and a seat on the board.
- A ban on sponsorship of sports teams by unlicensed casinos is also being considered; Burnham has long criticised the harms of gambling.
- An eight-week consultation on the proposals is under way. Everton, the club Burnham supports, has a partnership with Stake.com, a crypto casino not licensed in the UK.
- Burnham has been a steadfast advocate for justice for the victims of the Hillsborough disaster.
- His work in Parliament helped pave the way for the Hillsborough Law, passed last week to prevent cover-ups linked to state failures.
- While at the DCMS, he ordered the first review in a decade of the list of “crown jewels” sporting events.
- That review recommended making home Ashes series free-to-air, but the plan was shelved when Labour lost power in 2010.
- More recently, Sir Keir Starmer’s government has proposed new legislation to stop streaming and catch-up rights for UK viewers being placed behind a paywall.
July21July 21, 2026