Moment Ed Miliband squirms as he's grilled over Israeli football fan farce

Ed Miliband has said he cannot promise "come what may" that Tel Aviv Maccabi fans will be allowed to attend a match against Aston Villa next month.

He signaled the Government is working to overturn the ban on Maccabi Tel Aviv fans attending the Aston Villa match next month.

Energy Secretary Mr Miliband inisited Aston Villa’s football ground cannot be a “no-go” area for Jews.

When asked whether "come what may" Maccabi Tel Aviv fans would be able to attend, Mr Miliband said: "I'm not going to say come what may but I'm giving you a very, very clear indication of what we're woerking towards which is that the fans from both teams can attend the match."

Asked on Sky News’ Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips if Villa Park was now a no-go area for Jews as a result of the decision to ban Maccabi Tel Aviv fans from attending a match there next month, the Energy Secretary said: “No, and it can’t be, and I’m very, very clear about that.”

He said: “We cannot have a situation where any area is a no-go area for people of a particular religion or from a particular country, and we’ve got to stamp out all forms of prejudice, antisemitism, Islamophobia, wherever we find them.”

Asked if a petition, supported by independent MP for Birmingham Perry Barr Ayoub Khan, which called for the match to be halted and for a boycott of Israeli teams playing in the UK was justified, Mr Miliband said: “No, I profoundly disagree with that approach, with what is being said in that petition.”

The “vast majority of Muslim people in this country would disassociate themselves” from suggestions that Maccabi Tel Aviv fans could not come to Aston Villa because it was a predominantly Muslim area, Mr Miliband said.

But Mr Miliband stressed that “integration is not something you can ever take for granted”, when asked about concerns that a lack of integration had contributed to the situation.

The Government is expecting West Midlands Police to set out early this coming week what they would need to police the game safely with both sets of fans present.

Birmingham’s safety advisory group (SAG), which brings together the council and police force, is expected to raise the issue at a meeting early next week.

The decision by authorities in Birmingham to ban fans of the Israeli side was made public on Thursday night.

Since then, Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy and Communities Secretary Steve Reed have been speaking to those involved in the decision to try to find a way to resolve it, while the Home Office has offered support to police in Birmingham in a bid to overturn the ban.

West Midlands Police classified the fixture as high risk based on “current intelligence and previous incidents”.

The force pointed to violent clashes and hate crime offences that occurred during the 2024 Uefa Europa League match between Ajax and Maccabi Tel Aviv in Amsterdam.

Birmingham City Council said on Friday the decision to bar visiting fans would not be reviewed unless there was a change in the risk assessment provided by West Midlands Police.

The West Midlands’ police and crime commissioner Simon Foster has called for the decision to be reviewed, while Labour mayor of the West Midlands Richard Parker suggested the Government could finance the policing costs should the ban be overturned.

There has been widespread criticism from across the political spectrum of the decision to implement the ban.