Prime Minister Andy Burnham has joked that he could ban VAR and maintained that it "kills spontaneity" as the technology remains hugely divisive.
The former Mayor of Manchester is a lifelong Everton fan and last season was a season ticket holder. Like many match-going fans, Burnham has grown frustrated with the system, which was first introduced into the Premier League in 2019.
Burnham's complaints about VAR decisions
He claimed that the decisions are still leaning towards the top clubs. Everton themselves have been on the receiving end of an apology from refereeing chiefs; they were denied a penalty in a narrow 1-0 defeat against Manchester City in 2022, a decision that was later deemed to be wrong.
Burnham also maintains that fans are being denied that moment of joy when a goal goes in, knowing full well that VAR could still intervene.
"It kills spontaneity"
He told LadBible: "I often believed that other clubs, bigger clubs, Liverpool, Man United, got decisions, whereas Everton, my club, didn't. So refs were a bit more - they tended to give decisions that way, and I thought: 'Oh well, VAR will level things up', but it really hasn't levelled things up in my view."
"But also in the ground, because before I became Prime Minister, I had a season ticket and I didn't miss a game last year. I'm [an] Everton season ticket holder. What it does is it kills spontaneity. So football, going to the match, is about those moments when the goal goes in and [everyone celebrates]."
"That's what it's about. But then you do that, and it's VAR checking the goal. And the thing was, you'd accept it if it got the decisions right, but it doesn't get the decisions right."
Manifesto joke and City scandal
The Prime Minister then joked when quizzed on whether he could use his influence to rid of VAR: "Now you're putting an idea in my head. You're writing my next manifesto."
Burnham has found himself embroiled in one of the Premier League's biggest ever scandals following Manchester City's guilty verdict. Burnham in his previously role as Mayor dealt with the club's Abu Dhabi owners, with his dealings now being looked into, and he recently claimed it would be a shame to see them leave amid calls for them to be ousted.
