03/11/2004 00:00
TW
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by MONITOR
TESSA Jowell, Tony Blair's minister for Culture and Sport, may be an effective operator behind the scenes and in the corridors of power but she is hopeless as a communicator, whether on TV or radio, or even in the House of Commons. By all accounts, her attempt on Monday to persuade the House, and Labour MPs especially, that there are merits in the government's Gambling Bill was verging on the pathetic. Of course, it is possible that her heart is not in the legislation and that therefore she finds it difficult to speak about it confidently. Whether or not that is the case, it is certainly reasonable to ask, as many are doing, why the government is bringing forward this Bill shortly before a general election when there is still more important work to be done to improve the public services.

Ms Jowell's argument is that 95 per cent of the Bill is concerned with tidying up the ragbag of existing legislation on gambling and, in particular, with improving the safeguards for children against becoming hooked on fruit machines or even internet betting. She asks why her critics focus on the other five per cent of the Bill which will permit so-called super casinos, mostly operated by American gambling interests, to open in forty towns in Britain. The answer, of course, is that while the tidying-up legislation is welcome it is difficult to see why it has to be attached to proposals for a massive increase in accessible gambling for which no demand has shown itself. The only possible reason is that the Treasury sees increased gambling as a useful new source of tax revenue, but many will think it is not a good enough reason.