Starmer’s direct intervention also raises the stakes for the British government, which must now find a way to defuse the row.
Culture Minister Ian Murray confirmed Friday morning that Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy, responsible for the sport brief in the U.K., would meet with the Home Office to “see if there’s a way through this.”
He told Sky: “We can’t allow this to happen. We can’t allow a country to become a place where we’re excluding people from public events.”
Murray insisted the government still had “absolute faith” in West Midlands Police and denied the Cabinet was involving itself in operational decisions for the police.
Labour’s West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner Simon Foster, who holds responsibility for overseeing police services, called Friday for an “immediate review” about whether the decision was “appropriate, necessary, justified, reasonable and … proportionate.” The review, he said in a statement, must include consideration of “alternative options.”
Maccabi Tel Aviv CEO Jack Angelides told the BBC there had been no correspondence from British officials making clear that fans were officially banned, but praised the communication with club Aston Villa.