New Forest MP Julian Lewis has raised the issue of safe standing in the House of Commons.

The Tory MP has thrown his weight behind the Southern Daily Echo's campaign to get safe standing debate by parliament after quizzing Leader of the House Robin Cook at business questions on Thursday.

The move represents a significant step forward for our campaign which has the backing of more than 100 MPs, many football players and managers as well as thousands of genuine football fans.

Speaking in the House of Commons, Dr Lewis said: "Will the leader of the House consider approaching the Minister for Sport for a statement or preferably

a debate on the growing feeling that it is time to consider introducing safe standing areas at Premiership football grounds?

"That debate has been called for by the Southern Daily Echo, which serves Southampton and the New Forest.

"Experienced people such as former Southampton manager Lawrie McMenemy, who was present at the Hillsborough disaster in 1989, told the Daily Echo campaign: 'There is enough evidence now to prove that standing areas should be allowed and would not cause any problems if they were in areas behind the seated portions of the ground.'

"This is an occasion where a past tragedy should not be allowed to obscure the advances in technology that enable safe standing to be considered in the future."

Mr Cook replied: "I am grateful to the honourable gentleman for the reasoned way in which he made the point.

"My own experience of attending Livingston football matches is in a modern all-seater stadium.

"There is a large attendance and we have sought to foster a family atmosphere, which is important and provides for the future of football audiences.

"There are divided views on the issue raised by the honourable gentleman. I have long realised that if I wish to maintain a position as a consensual Leader of the House I should avoid expressing too strong an opinion about football, but I will convey his point to the Minister for Sport."

The response was encouraging as Mr Cook rarely agrees to pass on a question to the relevant minister.

Dr Lewis, who represents the New Forest East constituency, said: "I felt it was a good opportunity to raise this issue.

"I felt Robin Cook's reply was interesting. Normally he doesn't say he will refer something to the minister.

"I take the issue very seriously and also the views of Lawrie McMenemy very seriously.

"I am not a regular attender of football matches myself but I have seen enough campaigns to know when one has weight and substance and the Daily Echo campaign clearly has a lot of weight.

"I think a scheme should be closely looked at which could combine standing and safety.

"The debate should be had as it is clearly something people feel very strongly about."

German stadia lead the way

GERMAN football grounds are currently leading the way when it comes to safe standing.

Bundesliga clubs such as Hamburg, Schalke, Werder Bremen, Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich all have state-of-the-art standing areas - and it certainly did them no harm when Germany beat England in the battle to host the 2006 World Cup.

As support for the introduction of safe standing at Premiership football grounds continues to grow, many are now turning to these German clubs in an effort to prove that supporters could safely be given the standing areas which they want.

Last year the Football Licensing Authority (FLA) officials and members of Safe Standing Areas for England (SAFE) made separate trips to Germany to study their stadia.

Most safe standing areas in Germany have a limited capacity of 3,000.

They have removable crush barriers similar to those seen at British grounds but not the fencing that was seen as a main cause of the Hillsborough disaster.

Many of the German grounds have the innovative 'Kombi' seat which can be put back into the stand to transform them into all-seater stadia for European games.

In the report on the convertible 'Kombi' seats at Hamburg's Volksparkstadion last year, the FLA said: "This system could, with certain modifications, comply with safety standards required in England."

And after visiting Germany earlier in the year a spokesman for SAFE stressed: "We're not talking about a return to the old terraces."

At Hamburg the capacity increases from 50,126 to 55,000 when the 'Kombi' seats are locked away, providing 10,100 fans with the chance to stand.

But to counterbalance that, 'Kombi' seats take up more space to fill than your typical British flip-up seat.

If Premiership clubs were to install Hamburg-style safe standing areas, the capacity would increase for league games but decrease for European games, when the 'Kombi' seats would be put in place.

Rebuilding part of the stadium would also obviously involve extra initial cost.

Kombi seats cost £90 to buy and install, whereas the tip-up seats at St Mary's and other British stadia cost £20.

FC Schalke believe that safe standing areas have allowed them to target the unemployed.

Schalke charge just £5 to stand, while seated at the Auf Schalke stadium costs £8.50.

At Hamburg the standing area is undeniably popular with supporters and is sold out for every match to season ticket holders.

These are mostly young men, with very few women and children.

Both the club and the police have indicated that the supporters were generally well behaved.

Fire and ambulance service representatives indicated that the standing accommodation did not present them with any particular problems.

There had been no crushing incidents and the crowd does not surge. Injury rates in the standing areas are no higher than among seated spectators.

But despite these findings the FLA has still concluded: "The development of the 'Kombi' seat system in Germany does not affect the key arguments for or against the retention of the government's long-standing policy on all-seated grounds.