Few full-throated pledges from new minister as Lords debate covers racing's big issues

New gambling minister Baroness Fiona Twycross and new Jockey Club senior steward Baroness Dido Harding discussed the levy last week, although the interchange was not one which took place in a private meeting room in Westminster.

Instead the talks took place in the chamber of the House of Lords in a short debate on the government's support for British racing brought by Lord Herbert of South Downs.

The new minister's comments were her first in public on both racing and the levy and, while they were a long way from being a full-throated pledge to return to talks on the subject, they did at least leave the door open to the idea of reform.