ITV disowns Gary Neville’s comparison of rail staff to Qatar migrant workers in World Cup coverage

Gary Neville sparked fury yesterday by comparing striking UK workers with migrant labourers in Qatar.

The football pundit launched the bizarre rant during ITV‘s coverage of the World Cup final, saying that British ministers were ‘demonising’ public sector staff.

He claimed the conditions for striking nurses and railway workers were like those faced by Qatar’s huge foreign labour force. The Gulf state has been criticised over allegedly exploitative employment practices and for the number of deaths on construction projects.

Former levelling-up secretary Simon Clarke said the comparison was ‘grotesque’ while ITV said it did not endorse Neville’s views. Neville, who played for Manchester United and England, made his remarks in response to fellow pundit Roy Keane saying the World Cup had been stained by corruption.

Gary Neville ranted about strikes and workers conditions in the UK while working as a panelist before the World Cup Final for ITV

Neville said the government had ‘demonised rail and ambulance workers and terrified nurses’

He claimed the conditions for striking nurses and railway workers were like those faced by Qatar’s huge foreign labour force

‘We should detest low pay, we should detest poor accommodation and working conditions,’ said Neville, 47.

‘We can never accept that in this region or any other region – and it is just worth mentioning we’ve got a government in our country that are demonising rail workers, ambulance workers and terrifyingly nurses.

‘We can’t have people being paid an absolute pittance to work, we can’t have people in accommodation that is unsavoury and disgusting.

‘It shouldn’t happen here [in Qatar] … with the wealth that exists. But it shouldn’t happen with the nurses in our country either where our nurses are having to fight for an extra pound or two pounds.’

Neville’s comments yesterday sparked a storm on social media.

Tory MP Mr Clarke tweeted: ‘It is beyond ridiculous that he is given free rein by ITV Sport to overtly politicise a major sporting event.

‘Quite apart from the fact every nurse is receiving a pay rise of £1,400, to compare workers’ rights in Qatar with the UK is grotesque.’

Neville’s fellow pundit Roy Keane also argued the 2022 World Cup in Qatar has been ‘tainted’

Former Tory party leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith said ITV should have cut off Neville, who is a member of the Labour Party. He added: ‘People have been killed on building sites and things all over Qatar and paid a pittance, and he compares that to the UK? It’s unbelievable.

‘To compare a country that demonises gay rights, executes and brings in migrant workers by the truckload and pays them a pittance to a democratic country that has the concept of human rights, rule of law and all that goes with it – he’s abused his position.’

Lee Anderson, Conservative MP for Ashfield, said: ‘It’s a classic case of another champagne socialist who’s got more money than sense. ITV should sack him.’

Campaigners have claimed that as many as 6,500 migrant labourers working on projects linked to the Qatar World Cup have died.

Neville had already attracted controversy by agreeing to work for BeIN Sports – a network run by the Qatari state. This was despite him condemning the country’s treatment of migrant workers in a documentary, entitled Countdown to Qatar, which aired ahead of the tournament.

It is not known how much Neville has earned from his deal with BeIN, but insiders estimated it could run into six figures.

Theresa May’s former advisor attacked Gary Neville over his pre match comments 

Nick Timothy, Theresa May’s former chief of staff, said: ‘Gary Neville – paid apologist for Qatar – used his ITV punditry berth to make a party political speech unchallenged and make offensive comparisons between Qatar and Britain on workers’ rights.

‘The hypocrisy is no surprise but the failure of ITV to pre-empt this is unacceptable.’

Neville responded by saying: ‘Triggering all the right people.’

In September he appeared on stage with Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer at the party’s annual conference. He told delegates ‘this is the time now to get behind Keir 100 per cent’. He confirmed he had joined the party in January, but has ruled out standing for Labour at the next election.

An ITV spokesman said: ‘Gary Neville was expressing his own personal views in the context of a discussion about the treatment of workers in Qatar within a live broadcast.

‘His views are his own and were not endorsed by ITV.’