Falling levels of sports participation is state schools is a concern but children need access to facilities outside of school as well

However, there is a worrying trend at grassroots level that could have a detrimental impact on several sports. There has been a decline in physical education (PE) provision. Analysis by the Labour party of Sports England data shows a gulf in sports participation between state and independent schools.

In 2022/23, 72 per cent of children at an independent school took part in a team sport at least once a week in school, compared to just 52 per cent of state school pupils. The gap in participation has widened since 2017, increasing by two-thirds in six years.

In the last year, the number of taught PE hours has fallen by 5,000, contributing to an overall decline of 45,000 since November 2010.

Sir Keir Starmer, leader of the Labour Party, is right to warn that “young people are being locked out of emulating their heroes” as a result. And Labour’s pledge to reform the curriculum to ensure children attending state schools don’t miss out on subjects like PE is to be welcomed.

But the issue is not just the access to sports children have in schools. Young people need to be able to access facilities outside of school to enable them to emulate their heroes. Y et, councils up and down the country are selling off playing fields and shutting down sports centres owing to the crisis in local government financing. No party has yet been able to provide a vision of how they will fix the problems in local government finances.