U.K. football fans were "urged to use the last day of campaigning for Thursday’s general election to push for a commitment for better governance of football, after disappointing levels of support among political parties," according to Ian Herbert of the London INDEPENDENT. Labour "has emerged as the party with most affinity to the sport constituency in this election, by producing manifesto proposals committing to improved football governance if it comes to power." The Conservative manifesto "delivered nothing, despite previous commitments from MP Damian Collins’s private members’ football bill." The Football Supporters’ Federation "wants fans to urge parliamentary candidates to sign up to changes by which football club boards must be predominantly committed to the interests of supporters, rather than shareholders." It was clear on Tuesday that "the relationship between any Labour coalition and the Premier League may be a challenging one," as Shadow Sports Minister Clive Efford produced 10-year-old correspondence suggesting that EPL CEO Richard Scudamore had promised former Labour Sports Minister Richard Caborn that the league would pay 10% of any TV income to causes outside of the top flight. The Premier League "strongly rejected Efford’s claims that it had reneged," stating that Caborn had never responded to Scudamore’s offer, that the offer "did not only relate to grassroots sport and that the commitment had been fulfilled in both percentage and cash terms, in any case" (INDEPENDENT, 5/6).
