Gary Neville 'sorry for the rant' as he speaks out over Keir Starmer's free Arsenal tickets

Gary Neville has defended Keir Starmer for accepting more than £35,000 worth of free football tickets since 2019.

The former Manchester United footballer responded to criticism of the Prime Minister at a Labour Party conference event on Monday (September 23). He was joined by Wigan MP Lisa Nandy, who is the Culture, Media and Sport Secretary, on a panel about the importance of football clubs to their local communities at the event in Liverpool.

He hit out at the Premier League, arguing that smaller clubs should get more money from the football pyramid. The Manchester Evening News later asked Mr Neville whether he takes issue with MPs accepting free football tickets.

READ MORE: The Greater Manchester MPs who got the most free football tickets and other gifts

He said: "I'm struggling with the free football tickets one quite a bit to be honest with you because when I look at the absolute corruption we've seen for the last five, six, seven, eight years, people giving billions of pounds worth of contracts with VIP lanes, people getting their houses done. Keir Starmer paid for his season ticket to go with his family to watch Arsenal all his life and he's now being told he can't go to that same seat now even when surely you know and everybody knows he would.

"He's been told he's got to go into a private box which to be fair, a lot of the people complaining about him probably end up in those types of boxes themselves, including myself at times, at Birmingham - Wrexham last Monday night where I accepted a free ticket to go watch a match with someone in my time.

"But he's got an absolute consistent history of paying for his tickets. He's the Prime Minister of the country. I find it absolutely incredible that this level of attention is now being paid to a Labour Prime Minister when I look at the absolute cronyism we watched for years under that lot. I'm sorry for the rant, but it's absolutely ridiculous.

"I didn't come here to be political today to be honest with you. For the last five years we've all been banging our heads against a brick wall.

"They've been kicked out in an emphatic manner because of their absolute lack of trust and faith. At least they're not in power anymore - it's because of this. Keir's declared anything.

"I can't imagine the amount of champagne and wine that that lot smuggled in for the last five, six years and not declared it. It's unbelievable."

The Conservative Party has been approached for comment.