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Labour MPs to push Starmer for gambling overhaul in face of donations from industry
The Guardian
|July 18, 2025
The embattled Labour leadership is facing a challenge from backbench MPs pushing for wholesale changes to gambling regulation, putting Keir Starmer on a potential collision course with some of the party's largest donors.
The Guardian understands that a large and growing group of backbenchers is concerned that ministers may pull punches on further regulation of the UK's betting and gaming sector, which took a record £11.5bn from punters last year.
Weeks after Starmer and Rachel Reeves's chastening climbdown on welfare changes, the group is expected to push for a rethink of the government's approach to tackle concerns that more than a million people in Britain may be suffering from a gambling problem.
The group's proposals include drafting an entirely new gambling act to replace the much-criticised legislation introduced by Tony Blair's government in 2005, including measures to address high volumes of gambling advertising.
This story is from the July 18, 2025 edition of The Guardian.
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