FCA responds to MP's complaint about proposed Yorkshire CCC demutualisation

For demutualisation to prevail, 75 per cent of the membership must vote for it from a minimum 50 per cent turnout. There are 5,000-plus voting members.

However, Leeds Central and Headingley MP Alex Sobel has written to the financial regulator, the FCA, and urged it to probe these proposals.

The Labour MP said he is concerned about Yorkshire’s 2025 membership offer, in which members must opt in to receive voting rights.

In a response from the FCA, seen by The Yorkshire Post, the regulator said: “Whilst we do not comment on individual societies we do take these matters seriously.”

The FCA, which has a large base in Leeds, said in 2023 it wrote to all 15 first-class counties, including Yorkshire, in relation to their rules.

Mr Sobel, whose constituency includes the county’s Headingley base, said: “This is a welcome intervention in response to concerns being highlighted.

“The FCA has rightly stated that it 'takes these matters seriously'.

“In light of this response, the YCCC chair must restore automatic voting rights for members and end the opt-in system.

“Any plans to demutualise the members' club must also be abandoned.”

It is understood that the immediate need for demutualisation has cooled since Mr Graves first proposed it last year.

At that point, Yorkshire was expected to record another £2m loss and was braced for further deficits in 2027 and 2028, when Headingley does not have a Test match.

However, since then, the county has sold the entire stake in its Hundred franchise Northern Superchargers to the Indian Premier League side Sunrisers Hyderabad, with Yorkshire set to bank £60m.

Contrary to some reports, demutualisation is still on the table despite this sale.

"Our plan, basically, is to pay off all the debt and to make sure that we're sustainable going forward, and that we spend wisely going forward," Mr Graves said.

"But we'd still need to look at changing it into a limited company from a members' club because, by doing that, you protect it all the more.”