Lisa Nandy is a British Labour politician who has been Member of Parliament for Wigan since May 2010. She has been Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport since July 20, 2026, according to GOV.UK, which says she held the earlier title of Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport from July 5, 2024 to July 20, 2026. Before entering Parliament she worked at the homelessness charity Centrepoint and then at The Children's Society. She studied politics at Newcastle University and is the author of All In: How We Build a Country That Works.
Case
An independent commission found Manchester City arranged "sham" sponsorship contracts to disguise owner funding between 2009/10 and 2017/18. City denies it, says the decision is unsafe and will appeal. As of October 1, 2026, no sanction has been set.
Role at the time: UK Culture Secretary (Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport), in an interview with Channel 5 News
Statement summary
Speaking to Channel 5 News on September 29, 2026, Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy said "I don't want to preempt any kind of appeal process, and they are entitled to a fair hearing." She added that "the ultimate sanction is very serious indeed."
“I don’t want to preempt any kind of appeal process, and they are entitled to a fair hearing. But what I would say is that the ultimate sanction is very serious indeed.”
Relative to the proposition that City used sponsorship contracts the commission described as shams, and related arrangements, to misstate its finances and circumvent the Premier League's financial rules, as the commission found, Nandy says she does not want to pre-empt the appeal process and that City is entitled to a fair hearing, and then turns to the seriousness of the possible sanction. That expressly declines to judge the finding, so we used Explicitly stayed out. The closest competing label is Mixed or conditional, because she also says expulsion is possible if allegations are upheld, but that concerns the penalty rather than a position on the finding.
Statement dates: September 29, 2026
Statement dates: September 29, 2026
