Hello, I'm Sean Curran, and this is yesterday in Parliament from BBC Radio 4.

On Monday the 20th of October, the Culture Secretary told MPs that the government would find the resources to allow Israeli fans to attend a football match in Birmingham next month.

Lisa Nandi said the decision to ban Maccabi Tel Aviv supporters from the Europa League fixture against

Aston Villa was wrong.

Last week, officials in Birmingham decided that fans of the Israeli club, Maccabi Tel Aviv, should not be

allowed to watch their team when it played Aston Villa on the 6th of November.

This decision was taken by Birmingham City Council on the advice of the safety advisory group

and based on a risk assessment by West Midlands Police. The risk assessment considered a range

of factors such as the risk of protest,

the threat of wider disorder, previous fixtures with Maccabee Tel Aviv fans,

and the impact on the wider community.

That was the Culture Secretary Lisa Nandi,

who'd been called to the Commons to answer an urgent question about the ban on away fans.

She stressed that the police and the safety

advisory group were independent, but said this decision had far wider implications.

In any situation, there is a risk that must be assessed. But in this case, the risk this event

presents is in no small part down to the risk inherent in where the away fans come from and who they are.

It is in that context that the solution that is proposed to exclude a group from attending is wrong.

And she said the decision had been made against a backdrop of rising anti-Semitism

and the attack on a synagogue in Manchester.

Ultimately, the law is clear that responsibility for this decision

lies with local agencies.

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