Euro 2008
We come now to an urgent ministerial statement on the Euro 2008 championship.
Many members will be aware that the draw for the Euro 2004 championship will take place in Portugal on Friday. Colleagues will also be aware of the deadline of the end of February that has been set by the Union of European Football Associations for confirming bids for Euro 2008.
Since UEFA announced on 30 November that it would require eight, not six, 30,000-seat stadiums for the tournament, we have been seriously examining the viability of Scotland hosting the event, which is estimated to be the third biggest sporting event in the world. From the perspective of Scotland as a whole, we have carefully considered all the information that is available to us and we have considered our responsibility to make prudent decisions. We have concluded that to create four 30,000-seat stadiums in addition to our excellent facilities at Murrayfield, Hampden, Ibrox and Celtic Park, is neither practical nor desirable. There is no foreseeable need for four stadiums of that size. They would be expensive and there are serious doubts as to whether Scotland could guarantee their completion to UEFA's specification in time for 2008. We have therefore ruled out the possibility of Scotland bidding alone for Euro 2008.
However, the Cabinet has carefully considered the costs and benefits of a joint bid. It has not been easy to establish the real benefits to Scotland, in terms of jobs and the boost to tourism, of an event that is more than six years away, but we have concluded that, if we do this right, we could host a successful and viable joint partnership with Ireland. Following our Cabinet meeting this morning and our meeting with the Scottish Football Association at lunch time, I announce to Parliament that we wish to support a joint bid from the Scottish Football Association and the Football Association of Ireland. A joint bid gives us other important opportunities as well. If we are spending less money on the stadiums, we will be able to put money into other important areas. Top of my list of such areas is improving the opportunities for all Scottish children to take part in sport. A bid for Euro 2008 will give us a unique chance to deliver a real sporting legacy for our young people.
I spoke to the Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, this morning and informed him of the Executive's position. We agreed that consultations about a joint bid should take place between the Executive and the Irish Government and between the SFA and the FAI. We have assurances from the SFA that, if we make a joint bid, we could make the Euro 2008 championships the best yet.
We must ensure that any public sector support is fully justified. The SFA and the clubs currently estimate that the cost to the Executive would be no more than £50 million to £70 million in total. We will be working with the SFA over the next few months to minimise the cost to the public purse of the required stadiums and to maximise the benefits to local communities of any new facilities and of hosting the event.
Of course, we will be up against some stiff competition, but Scotland and Ireland are both great tourist destinations for visiting fans and their families. We also have some of the most enthusiastic and knowledgeable football supporters in Europe. We should not be overconfident, but if we do it right and unite behind the bid, we can win.
More hard work is ahead of us. In the next four weeks, we will work with the Irish Government, the SFA, the FAI and the clubs. We will be in a position by 28 February to announce clearly to UEFA whether our joint bid will proceed.
I want us to seize this opportunity to make Euro 2008 the best European championship ever. For that to be the case, we must guarantee the quality of the partnership between us, the Irish and our partners in football. We must guarantee the quality of the bid and we will ensure that our bid is professional and convincing. We must guarantee the quality of community involvement and participation.
Throughout the process, with our partners in local government, we will ensure that the benefit to the community is central to our plans. We will ensure that there is a real and lasting legacy from new facilities, with better opportunities for children and young people, and benefits that are spread across the whole of Scotland. If we win the right to host Euro 2008, we will have won a unique opportunity to promote Scotland internationally as a modern country of quality.
The bid is about more than football stadiums or individual matches. We can advertise Scotland across the globe as a destination for tourists and investment. We can exhibit our ability to manage major events. We can leave a lasting legacy for young Scots to benefit from increased sporting opportunities.
My priorities are sporting activity that benefits the health of Scotland, tourism and trade that create and sustain jobs, and opportunities that expand the educational experience of our young people. Those should be our goals. I invite members to unite in a national effort behind the bid and to see Scotland succeed.
We have 23 minutes and no fewer than 13 members who want to ask questions. I appeal for short questions and answers.
I thank the First Minister for his statement and the advance copy that he made available to us. I make it clear that the SNP would have preferred a single national bid for the Euro 2008 championship as an illustration of the ambition of the country to seize the tourism, economic and sporting advantages that a tournament of such magnitude could bring to the people of Scotland. Will the First Minister make clear to Parliament whether the bid has the unreserved support of the Irish Government and whether the Irish Government and the FAI are fully committed to making a bid with the Scottish Executive and the SFA?
Will the First Minister tell us whether the Government has wasted time in the consultation on the exercise? His predecessor talked of a joint bid as long ago as May 2001. At the 11th hour, the First Minister has put a note of significant uncertainty into whether a bid will go ahead. Will he assure Parliament unreservedly that a bid that will involve Scotland will be made for the 2008 championship?
I hope that it will be possible to secure the support of Mr Swinney and his party for the bid if it goes ahead. In Scotland, we should unite on such matters and see beyond the normal bounds of party politics to secure benefit for the country.
It is right and proper that the final decision on the submission of the bid should rest on the conclusion of our discussions with the Irish Government, the FAI and the SFA. We share the same aspiration, but we need to resolve the details. It is important to do that.
It was also important for us to respond to the change in the UEFA guidelines. Until 30 November, it was our understanding that the option of six or at most seven stadiums was on the table, which might have enabled Scotland to introduce a solo bid. Our preparations were based on that understanding, but it became clear on that date that UEFA expects eight stadiums.
We had a duty to investigate in full the impact that that requirement would have not just on our budget but on the practicality of the bid and its legacy. We do not want to spend money unnecessarily on football stadiums if they are not required. We should not throw a spanner in the works by promising stadiums that might not be delivered on time. We should not minimise the opportunity that this proposal gives us to maximise the benefits for our young people by allocating the money that we will save to youth sport.
This proposal is the right course for us to take, but the agreements that we have to reach with the Irish Government and the Football Association of Ireland are critical too. We will work towards securing those agreements and, when we have made a final decision on the matter, I will report back to the Parliament.
I begin by saying how much I welcome the First Minister's statement today. I pledge my party's full support for the efforts of the Scottish Executive in the promotion of the bid. That will come as no surprise to the First Minister, given that as long ago as June 2000, we lodged a motion in the Parliament calling for a joint bid by Scotland and Ireland for Euro 2008. I therefore congratulate the First Minister on the adoption of a very sound Conservative policy—at long last.
It is not the first.
I remind Mr Russell, who is calling from the sidelines, that he is one of the people who signed that motion. It is unfortunate that common sense has not prevailed with Mr Russell, but this is not the first time that that has happened in the Parliament.
I would like to ask a couple of questions about the statement. I believe that 18 months have been wasted. Is the First Minister satisfied that, in the 36 days until the end of February, there is enough time for the Executive, the Irish Government and the football associations to put forward a joint bid to UEFA that will command credibility?
Secondly, will the First Minister clarify whether this is a case of a joint bid or nothing? In other words, has the Scottish Executive ruled out entirely a solo bid? Thirdly, will he confirm that public funds will be applied in support of the bid to infrastructure and supporting projects that will be of lasting benefit to the Scottish economy and society, and that funds will not be ploughed into football stadiums, which are a matter for the clubs that own them as businesses?
I thank Mr McLetchie for his support and I hope that that support will be widespread throughout the Parliament.
I confirm that it is our decision that a solo bid is not desirable for Scotland. I think that that is the right decision in terms of cost, planning, practicalities and the tournament's legacy. If we concentrate our efforts on ensuring that six stadiums are available for the tournament and if we build a good relationship with, and work with, the Irish Government and the FAI, we can ensure that we will have a sporting and economic legacy of which we can be proud.
I remind the chamber that Belgium and the Netherlands are larger countries than Scotland, with better records in football over the past two decades. Those countries chose to share a tournament of this nature rather than to go it alone.
We are not running down Scotland by making this decision. We are promoting Scotland, making good use of public finance and leaving a legacy for young people in Scotland of which we can be proud.
The next four weeks are simply an opportunity to indicate that we intend to make the bid—the real bid is due in May. In the discussions that follow not just in the next few weeks but in the next few months, we want to ensure that we have the agreement of our Irish colleagues to go ahead with the joint bid and that the right vehicles are in place to deliver the infrastructure on time and to budget. We also have to ensure that there is a lasting community benefit for any public investment that we put in. I believe that we can secure those objectives and that we have the whole-hearted support of the SFA in seeking to achieve them. The SFA wants the tournament to be for the whole of Scotland and not just to be a series of football matches. We are with the SFA in that crusade.
I welcome what is a measured and sensible decision. The opportunities are huge and the joint bid brings new opportunities for co-operation and friendship in a way that would not have been possible otherwise. The joint bid is positive.
How will the Executive ensure that the benefits of the bid are spread across the whole of Scottish football, including amateur clubs, and do not just provide a bonanza for those clubs whose stadiums are developed?
I do not want to promise things that are not yet tied down in detail, but even in our discussions with the SFA today it was clear that it shared our desire to spread the benefits, not just in 2008 and beyond, but between now and 2008. That will ensure that Scottish schools and boys and girls benefit from the development work that can be undertaken, not just with the money we will save on the project, but through investment overall. The SFA will be behind us in that effort—I believe that it is very enthusiastic about it.
I think that the benefits can be shared across Scotland, not least through a serious effort over the next six years to ensure that, when the day comes—if we are successful in winning the bid to hold the tournament in Scotland—our promotion of the tournament includes a promotion of Scotland as somewhere to stay longer than just to watch one football match and as somewhere for people to spend time with their families.
In deciding that eight stadiums is not a viable option, but that six is, we want the cities and towns that wish to be part of the bid to present competitive bids for their stadiums that will maximise the benefit to their communities. I do not want those bids to come only from the central belt. Dundee and Aberdeen must be involved in the bidding process, although we will be open and competitive in choosing the best locations for the games to take place.
I thank the First Minister for his statement and particularly welcome his comments about using any money that is saved as a result of making a joint bid for investment in sporting opportunities—not just football—for all our young people, which is a much better use of money than lining the pockets of private companies.
I wish to press the First Minister on the issue of finance. If a bid is to go ahead, what assurances can be given—particularly with regard to the problems encountered in the development of Hampden—that costs will not be allowed to escalate out of control, and that there will be appropriate community gain from and access to facilities that are built with money from the public purse?
Those are exactly the considerations for which mechanisms need to be put in place. In our discussions with the SFA today, it was clear that we share the objective of keeping down the cost to the public purse and driving up the benefit to the community. We intend to ensure that the organisation that we put in place to deliver the infrastructure for the tournament and the organisation for the tournament itself are matched by the efforts of the Scottish Tourist Board and all the other agencies that can be involved in promoting Scotland. I hope that all members, from all parties, will help to ensure that we make the tournament a success. If we work together in all those areas, we can control the costs, maximise the benefits and promote Scotland internationally.
I welcome the First Minister's comments, which were measured. I ask him to elaborate a wee bit on what he said about infrastructure. When major sporting or cultural events are held in other countries, it is usual for those countries to develop infrastructure that lasts a long time after those events. Are direct rail links to airports and light rail schemes, which would help get people across Scotland more efficiently, examples of what he wants out of the bid?
I want to ensure that the efforts to deliver the football infrastructure match our plans to invest in transport and other infrastructure throughout Scotland. That is very important. It would be daft to invest money in a stadium in one area at the same time as investing in transport infrastructure somewhere else.
I hope that when the bids from individual clubs are received and we put together our overall plan, that plan will take account of the other plans that are in place throughout Scotland, so that we can use this initiative to maximise the benefit from investment. I hope that Scotland's local authorities will be actively involved in that process. I do not want the bid to be based simply on a relationship between the Scottish Executive and the Scottish Parliament on the one hand, and the football clubs that are involved on the other. Local authorities have a key role to play in securing a lasting legacy for their communities.
Many SNP members will believe that some bid is better than no bid, although the best bid would have been a Scottish bid. Having said that, we are pleased to know that the benefits of working with our Irish cousins, which Labour members have always denied, are finally being recognised.
The First Minister can be assured that SNP members will support a bid, if there is one—his statement was hedged around with many ifs and buts. However, in answer to a question from Richard Lochhead in May 2001, the former First Minister made a commitment to ensure active involvement of all parties in the development of the bid and in developing ideas for the championship. Will the First Minister commit himself to seeking to establish such a structure, so that there can be genuine co-operation across the chamber?
I hope that the members concerned will not mind my saying that today I have already told the leader of the Scottish National Party and the leader of the Scottish Conservative party that I will keep them fully informed of and involved in our preparations for the proposed bid. I have also suggested to Mr Canavan, the convener of the cross-party sports group—who cannot be here this afternoon—that the group could play a role both in promoting the bid and in maximising its benefits across Scotland.
This should be an all-party effort. I would like organisations, local authorities, businesses, newspapers and other media outlets, political parties and everyone else in Scotland to unite behind the bid, which can deliver lasting benefit to Scotland. We will secure the championships if we are seen to be united and determined. I hope that that will be the case across the chamber and beyond.
As a proud Scot who is equally proud of his Irish roots, I warmly welcome the joint bid with our Irish cousins. Will the First Minister assure us that, when reaching agreement with them, he will ensure that the final of the tournament is played in Scotland, rather than in Ireland? Will he also assure us that, when deciding where public investment should be made—whether in Aberdeen, Dundee or Edinburgh—full weight will be given to those areas' relative prosperity, social deprivation and need for public investment?
Mr McAllion makes two very good points. The reason why I have not been absolutely precise today about the submission of the bid is that some details still need to be resolved. We want to secure a fair share of the important parts of the tournament for both Scotland and the Republic of Ireland. It would be wrong of me today to pre-empt the discussions that we need to have with the Irish about that, but I am sure that members will guess where I would prefer the final to be played.
I said that we wanted to run a competition between clubs for the stadiums that will be developed. That competition will not be run solely on the basis of cost; I do not want just the cheapest options for the new stadiums. We need to ensure that the building work in which we invest is of lasting benefit to the community and that the facilities created have a lasting use in the community. I want clubs and councils around Scotland to bear that in mind when preparing their bids.
Will the First Minister confirm whether the SFA considered a solo bid not only feasible, but preferable and desirable in economic and all other terms? If that was the SFA's position, why have its views been disregarded?
One would have had to have been in outer Mongolia for the past three weeks to have been unaware of the fact that the SFA's first preference was for a solo bid. Let me be clear to the chamber that that would also have been my first preference, but we must take account of the costs, the planning opportunities and the lasting legacy. No one in Scotland would thank us if, in 12 or 15 years' time, young people took part in less sport while our football stadiums were emptier. It is important that we take decisions for the long term. The SFA will be disappointed that we are not going for a solo bid, but I have no reason to believe that it will be anything less than extremely enthusiastic about working with the Executive to secure the bid and the championships.
I welcome the First Minister's statement, which will allow Scotland to make the joint bid. I am sure that his statement will be warmly welcomed throughout Scotland, particularly in places such as Aberdeen. I also welcome his commitment to ensuring that the whole of Scotland will benefit from the bid. I am aware that Aberdeen is extremely interested in preparing a bid to take part in Euro 2008.
Will the First Minister assure me that the Scottish Executive will help to support local agencies in making the best possible bids for the location of the remaining stadiums?
We want to work closely with all involved. The SFA will have a key role to play in securing quality bids from local clubs and their partners. I know that Elaine Thomson is concerned that the announcement of a joint bid might rule out the development of a stadium in Aberdeen, but I assure her that that is definitely not the case. I hope that there will be at least one proposal from Aberdeen on the table when we make a decision about which stadium should receive that support.
I welcome the First Minister's announcement. It has always been right for us to support the concept of a joint bid. I have not been alone in calling for a joint bid—on 2 June 2000, which is some 18 months ago, Kenneth Gibson, Duncan Hamilton, Brian Adam, Alex Neil, Michael Russell and Lloyd Quinan signed a motion that supported that concept. It is important that we sing from the same hymn sheet and I hope that we will bring the rather isolated nationalists on board.
On my point about singing from the same hymn sheet, in today's edition of The Scotsman, the contract for the design of the bid document was announced for what appears to be a solo bid for Euro 2008. How did that announcement come about? If the contract is not for a solo bid, did the Irish parties that are involved in the joint bid agree to the contract?
Further to the football associations' commitment, and in the light of recent reports that the SFA is willing to pay Berti Vogts a salary of £2 million over the next four years, what funding will the SFA make available for the Euro 2008 bid? Surely the SFA, as a partner in the bid, has money that it could make available.
We will resolve the issue of finances in discussions with the SFA and we will announce the results of those discussions to Parliament in due course.
On statements that may or may not have been made recently by anyone about bid documents or anything else, it is clear that, as of today, we are in a new situation. We will take the matter up with the SFA, the FAI and the Irish Government.
On Mr Monteith's first point, I am pleased that he is not gloating too much, given the way in which he has promoted this cause over the past 18 months. I recognise that some members have changed their minds over the past 18 months and that others will have reservations about the decision that I announced today. I genuinely hope that, after today's exchanges, everyone in the chamber will unite behind this opportunity for Scotland. If we do so, none of us will regret it.
I congratulate the Executive on not allowing its heart to rule its head over this important decision for Scotland.
How advanced are the discussions with the Irish Government on the joint bid? Is the First Minister confident that there is a realistic time scale for the production of a bid?
Yes, I am confident that we can submit a high-quality bid in the time that is available. The discussions with the Irish Government are on-going. Clearly, there are a number of details that the Irish Government would like to discuss with us and that we would like to discuss with the Irish Government. For example, I would like us to be involved in a tight joint organisation. To do that across national borders will not necessarily be easy, but that should be our objective.
Over the next few weeks, we must carefully work towards those decisions. As I do not want to say anything publicly that might steer those decisions off course, I hope that colleagues will recognise that we need to handle this delicate situation with care.
I welcome the First Minister's announcement. Perhaps we can be less pessimistic about Scotland's chances of participating in the finals than we have been on the two previous occasions.
The First Minister mentioned the development of community facilities. If, in the discussions on those developments, there is a need to develop ideas for training facilities, will the Celtic Football Club training ground in my constituency and the training grounds of the other two football clubs in Glasgow be considered, so that people in areas such as mine can be much more involved and can benefit from greater community facilities?
I am sure that the facilities in Mr McAveety's constituency will be part of any discussions about preparing properly for the finals. We will also need to think carefully about the locations that we use. For example, if a successful bid used the six stadiums that were placed in cities across Scotland—or perhaps even in a large town—that would not mean that the training facilities and hotels that would be used by the clubs and supporters could not be placed in other Scottish locations and so advertised to the world.
I need only remind colleagues of how, during the world cup in France back in 1998—when I remember meeting Andrew Wilson on a Paris street—we saw on our TV screens regular pictures of the hotels and training camps that were used. We can advertise the whole of Scotland by ensuring that the whole of Scotland is involved in supporting the tournament. If we do that, the whole of Scotland will benefit.
I apologise to the five members who have not been called, but we must move to decision time.