The House of Commons will tackle football hooliganism next week after a debate was secured by Dartford MP Gareth Johnson.

Recent violence in France during the European Championships prompted the Conservative to bring the issue before Westminster in a bid to ensure England fans do not become embroiled in trouble at the 2018 World Cup in Russia.

Mr Johnson said: “Yet again violent scenes have overshadowed much of the football of a major football tournament and hundreds of people have been arrested.

“The depressing images we have seen on television are simply embarrassing and drag the name of our country through the mud. Some work has been carried out to tackle the problem but still much more needs to be done.

“The attitudes expressed by people such as Vladimir Putin, who seems to be glorifying in the violence, do not help us to deal with the problem.

“In two year’s time the World Cup is due to be held in Russia and we need to ensure people who are out to cause trouble do not travel there should we qualify.”

The MP called for tougher sanctions for anyone found to be behaving violently at matches, in the hope that fans will be deterred from getting involved.

He also suggested the government should endeavour to ensure that those offending overseas can be tried by British courts upon their return.

The debate will take place next Wednesday afternoon.