BRITISH FENCING SUPPORT #TAKETHELEAD CAMPAIGN

British Fencing is supporting the Sport & Recreation Alliance’s #TakeTheLead campaign, which urgently calls on the UK’s main political parties and leaders to commit to making the UK the most active nation in Europe. 

Currently, the UK ranks joint 11th out of 15 for levels of physical activity amongst comparable European nations. The campaign looks to unlock the sport, recreation and physical activity sector’s huge potential to significantly improve the UK’s health economy, and society.

With a general election just around the corner in July 2024, the incoming government faces significant challenges on taking office. Sport, recreation and physical activity must be at the heart of the next government’s mission to transform Britain.

This is why BF is supporting and calling on our next political leaders to #TakeTheLead to make the UK the most active nation in Europe.

Supporting more people to be active can help take the pressure off the NHS by cutting spending on preventable disease by £1bn every year, boost the productivity and economic growth of the working age population by helping more people to stay in work, strengthen schools and get upstream of physical and mental health issues in childhood, improve overall health and wellbeing and create more connected, inclusive communities.

If the UK were to become the most active nation in Europe, this would also grow the economy,  increasing GDP by up to £3.6bn every year.

BF is a signatory to the #TakeTheLead campaign, which details its ambition and policy measures designed to drive change:

• Unlock access: remove the barriers which stop people participating in sport, recreation and physical activity.
• Build a habit for life: put PE, school sport and physical activity at the heart of children’s lives in schools and local communities, with every child getting 60 active minutes a day.
• Red card to red tape: reduce tax, regulatory and compliance burdens on the sector so it can focus on getting people active and engaged in sport, recreation and physical activity.
• Strengthen the squad: retain and grow the people who make sport, recreation and physical activity happen every day.
• Power a prevention-first approach: embed sport, recreation, physical activity and movement in community health and care systems to improve population health and wellbeing.
• Tackle inequalities: use a place-based approach to breaking down barriers and ensure everyone can get active through a relentless focus on making sport, recreation and physical activity more inclusive.
• Enhance our places and spaces: protect and improve the quality of the natural environment, and better harness the built and urban environment, to enable and encourage more people to be active.
• Back our world class athletes and events: invest in and leverage the power of elite competitions and events to inspire participation, boost civic pride and enhance soft power.

The next government has the opportunity to #TakeTheLead to harness the full potential of the sport, recreation and physical activity sector by committing to this bold ambition, which would be transformative for communities across the UK.

Find out more at: Sport & Recreation Alliance

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