Select committee: Home Affairs Committee
Conclusion 1
5th Report - Maccabi Tel Aviv fan ban
Published 22 Feb 2026
Addressed to Home Office
Home Affairs Committee Football Policing All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Conclusion (the committee's words)
The interim report of Sir Andy Cooke, His Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Constabulary, concluded that West Midlands Police had been subject to “confirmation bias” in their assessment of Maccabi Tel Aviv fans. We agree with this judgment; our inquiry has found that despite a wealth of evidence available regarding the Amsterdam disorder, West Midlands Police relied on inaccurate information on the behaviour of Maccabi Tel Aviv fans in reaching a view of them as unusually high-risk. It is difficult to pinpoint exactly why this inaccurate narrative took hold, but it is clear that West Midlands Police failed to do even basic due diligence on the information they received. This included false information that was generated by AI. West Midlands Police also failed to retain contemporaneous notes relating to matters central to their decision making. In addition, West Midlands Police continually emphasised that it was this unique risk from the Maccabi Tel Aviv fans which led to the recommendation to ban away fans, and not local community tensions, despite evidence of risk emanating from local communities in Birmingham. The initial attempt by West Midlands Police to downplay the role of local community tensions was unbalanced and ultimately served to undermine confidence in both the decision and the force itself. (Conclusion, Paragraph 13)
From: Home Affairs Committee, 5th Report - Maccabi Tel Aviv fan ban (HC 1553), 22 February 2026
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 29 April 2026 (deadline 22 April 2026).
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government sets out work under way on Safety Advisory Group guidance and on a possible designation of events of national significance, but does not recommend a formal escalation mechanism "at this stage".
- A Cabinet Office-owned UK Resilience Academy review of Safety Advisory Group guidance "will result in the publication of new guidance", intended to strengthen members' ability to challenge effectively; no publication date is given.
- On escalation, consideration is being given to whether a "clear and proportionate mechanism" is needed, but any such process would require agreement across government on thresholds, decision-making responsibilities and how intervention would operate.
- On elected politicians sitting on Safety Advisory Groups, the government "agrees" membership should continue to be grounded in operational, regulatory and technical expertise, notes local authorities already have discretion over composition, and says the new guidance "will set out its position on political involvement".
- On a new category of football matches of national significance, officials are working across departments to consider options, but the government "will take account" of the HMICFRS findings, expected shortly, "before finalising proposals or setting out next steps".