Claim b836d720Checked 21 Jul 2026
TrueOn the truth scale
“Sky Sports can be found on the parliamentary TV network.”
—Mrs Kemi BadenochConservativeCon / North West Essex·Engagements·03 Jun 2026Factual · official legal institutional
Reasoning & Evidence21 Jul 2026
A parliamentary written answer from November 2013 confirms that through the Parliamentary Television Service, departments such as the Attorney-General's Office had "access to two Sky Sports channels." This establishes that Sky Sports channels were part of the Parliamentary Television Service offering.
More recently, a February 2026 Guido Fawkes article reported that the House of Commons pays over £1,000 per year for Sky Sports on its annunciator screens, with costs rising over three years: £1,099 in 2023/24, £1,207 in 2024/25, and £1,307 in 2025/26. The article states the House "does not have any other TV subscriptions for annunciators on the estate, barring the Sky Sports subscription."
Government procurement documents also describe the Parliamentary TV service as a multi-channel IPTV system distributed across government buildings, confirming it is a real internal TV network with channels beyond just parliamentary proceedings.
The claim about Sir Alan Haselhurst's lobbying being the reason for Sky Sports' presence is an attribution that is harder to independently verify from public sources, but the core factual assertion—that Sky Sports is available on the parliamentary TV network—is confirmed.
Sources: UK Parliament API (parliamentary written answer, 2013-11-25) — https://api.parliament.uk/query/resource?uri=https%3A%2F%2Fid.parliament.uk%2FhIA91bZW; Guido Fawkes / Order-Order (February 2026) — https://order-order.com/2026/02/06/commons-shells-out-taxpayer-cash-for-mps-sky-sports-subscriptions/; Contracts Finder (MoJ/Chubb Parliamentary TV service agreement) — https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Notice/Attachment/ca395cc6-4638-45b2-9fa1-677b0dee2682
From speech
I echo the Prime Minister’s words on Lance Corporal James Freeman and about the Royal Navy helicopter crash in Devon. I also send my deepest condolences to the family and friends of Henry Nowak. The circumstances around Henry’s wrongful arrest and tragic murder must be a wake-up call to the entire country and our institutions that every life matters, and it is the responsibility of everyone in this House to bring people together, not divide them. Mr Speaker, with your permission, I would like to take this opportunity to pay tribute to Sir Alan Haselhurst—Lord Haselhurst—who died on Monday. Sir Alan served Parliament for over 50 years, eight of them in the Lords and 40 years as my predecessor as MP for Saffron Walden, while from 1970 to 1974 he was the Member of Parliament for Middleton and Prestwich. He was respected on all sides of this House, and was elected multiple times as your predecessor as Deputy Speaker, before he concluded in the other place. Apart from serving his constituents, Sir Alan’s greatest passion in Parliament and perhaps in life was cricket, as you said, Mr Speaker. He was chairman of the all-party parliamentary group on cricket, a role which he encouraged me to take up and which I graciously declined, telling him I knew absolutely nothing about cricket. However, I think colleagues should know that Sir Alan’s intense lobbying is the reason that Sky Sports can be found on the parliamentary TV network. There is so much to say, but just to let everyone know, he was a good and kind man and he will be very much missed. My thoughts are with his wife Angela, his children Mark, David and Emma, and his grandchildren. May I ask the Prime Minister by how much the welfare bill has risen since he came to office?
Sources opened