Westminster shenanigans earn Levy Board a stay of execution

Yet again it would appear that reports of the Levy Board's imminent demise have been exaggerated.

The government's plans to abolish the board from April next year, which had looked as if they were making serene progress, hit a brick wall in parliament last week. It was not the policy that was objected to, it was the way the government was going about it via secondary rather than primary legislation.

Ministers and officials, along with racing's leaders, had prior warning that this could be a problem – Labour peer Lord Lipsey and Conservative MP Philip Davies had laid out their objections on this front in February.