More than 40 MPs and peers from across the political spectrum have signed a letter to Boris Johnson calling for “an urgent, independent public inquiry” into the collapse last month of Football Index, the self-styled football “stock market”.

The letter to the prime minister also says the inquiry should should “include the role of the Gambling Commission and the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) in its terms of reference”.

The letter, coordinated by the all-party parliamentary group for gambling-related harm, pulls no punches in its description of the issues that led to the collapse of Football Index and a similar platform, Footstock, in the space of a few days last month.