LABOUR said yesterday that it would enforce a Premier League commitment to invest 5 per cent of the proceeds from lucrative TV rights deals in grassroots sport.

Shadow health secretary and keen football fan Andy Burnham said it could unlock £400 million to nurture the talents of the next generation of stars over the course of the next parliament.

And he said Labour was ready to legislate if necessary to ensure elite clubs lived up to their 1999 promise to support struggling community facilities and projects.

Mr Burnham accused Prime Minister David Cameron of failing to get tough on the Premier League despite a massive increase in its TV revenues during his time in power.

Although the league puts £168m into grassroots sport, this represents only a fraction of the £5 billion it has taken in from TV deals between 2013 and 2016, said Labour.

Burnham said that TV money had increased by 160 per cent since 2010 but the Tories hadn’t made sure top clubs invested in grassroots football.

“The gap between top and bottom in our national sport has never been wider.”