Racing and gambling to fall under portfolio of Rebecca Pow after reshuffle

Horseracing and gambling will fall under the portfolio of Rebecca Pow MP rather than sports minister Nigel Adams, it has emerged.

Pow, the MP for Taunton Deane, was appointed the parliamentary under secretary of state for arts, heritage and tourism at the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport in prime minister Boris Johnson's reshuffle last week.

However, Pow, rather than Adams, has also been given responsibility for gambling and lotteries as well as horseracing.

Pow, who became MP for Taunton Deane in 2015, will be a new face to the gambling industry having not been vocal in the political debate surrounding the sector.

However, she is no stranger to racing as Taunton racecourse is in her constituency.

Taunton managing director Bob Young said: "Our local MP is invited with their family to the Christmas meeting every year.

"As long as she has been an MP she has been every year to our Christmas meeting and presented a prize. She is very pro-racing."

Nigel Adams: the sports minister has ceded responsibility for gambling and lotteries to Rebecca Pow

It is not the first time that racing has been separated from sports in government.

In the early years of David Cameron's coalition government, responsibility for horseracing and gambling rested with the then minister for tourism and heritage John Penrose as sports minister Sir Hugh Robertson was concentrating on the 2012 Olympics.

Adams, who is a fan of the sport, will nevertheless still have a role to play in racing as his portfolio includes oversight of departmental plans for Brexit.

Former sports minister Mims Davies has moved to the Department for Work and Pensions.

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