Natalie Bennett called on England to boycott the 2022 World Cup in Qatar yesterday over the country’s record on gay and workers’ rights.

The Green Party leader said England’s football team should not travel to the rich Gulf nation for the 22nd edition of football’s biggest event.

Calls for a boycott are constantly growing due to the country’s continued exploitation of foreign workers — there have been hundreds of deaths and well-documented abuses of migrant workers — as well as alleged corruption surrounding the Fifa bidding process for the right to host the tournament.

Homosexuality is illegal in the oil state.

Asked by the Gay Times whether England should travel to Qatar, Bennett said: “Personally no, that’s my personal opinion.

“I think there are so many issues around Qatar — gay rights issues, workers’ rights issues.”

Bennett also said there is a cultural problem within sport as gay athletes rarely come out and if they do it is usually after retiring.

Justin Fashanu committed suicide in 1998 after revealing he was gay while former Aston Villa midfielder Thomas Hitzlsperger and ex-United States international Robbie Rogers have both came out over the past few years, but only after retiring from the sport.

Bennett believes that a possible way to tackle the problem would be to treat homophobic chants at football matches with the same seriousness as racism.

“I think very clearly there’s a real cultural problem,” said Bennett.

“That’s why athletes so often have come out after they’ve finished competing.

“There’s a serious responsibility for sport.

“The evidence suggests it’s lagging behind because people aren’t coming out.

“If there’s homophobic chants, for example, it should be treated in the same way as racism.”