DAWN BUTLER MP, Member of Parliament for Brent Central, has met with representatives from the Football Association (FA) to discuss efforts to promote diversity and inclusion in football.

Butler, attending in her capacities as Member of Parliament for Brent Central which includes Wembley Stadium, and her Shadow Women and Equalities brief, met with representatives to discuss a whole range of issues concerning diversity, integration and racism in football.

The level of racism in football, both at a national and international level, has been brought under a spotlight in the past year following a number of high-profile incidents, such as Raheem Sterling being racially abused at a Chelsea game and a number of black players being abused whilst playing for England against Montenegro.

Ms Butler raised concerns over the current reporting procedures and the steps being taken to restore faith in the system, especially at a grassroots level where groups has claimed most hate crimes are left unreported or fail to be upheld due to a lack of evidence.

The FA gave assurances that more was being done to ensure that players were given support and protection from racism and hate crimes, both during games as well as when using various social media platforms.

Dawn Butler MP said: “It was helpful to meet with the representatives from the FA to discuss progress being made in football to increase diversity at all levels of our national game and root out racism in football which has been witnessed recently.

“Any form of racism or hate has no place in our society and that includes on the football pitch and in the terraces, the incidents witnessed over the past year were shocking and must be tackled. We cannot and must not see a roll back to the bad old days of everyday racism in football”

“We also discussed in great length the progress made in promoting the successes of the women’s game, both nationally and on an international stage, as our Lionesses go from strength to strength on their World Cup journey, which have secured record viewing figures back home, and it definitely feels like football is coming home.”