Seòmar agus comataidhean

I am pleased to close the debate on behalf of Scottish Labour.

I start by concurring with Mr Harvie on the importance of public transport in getting people to and from major sporting events. We need to look at that issue in the context of Euro 2028, and it is even more pressing that we have a proper transport plan in place for the Commonwealth games in 2026, which is a matter of months away. We need to see progress on that planning, so I hope that the minister will take it forward with ministerial colleagues. Those are different events, but lessons could be learned from such a plan going forward.

As I said earlier and as many members across the chamber have said this afternoon, Euro 2028 should bring excitement and positivity to the country. It will be an opportunity to bring people together from across Europe through their shared love of our national sport and to welcome people to Scotland. As we have heard, football is in our DNA and is part of our culture. Every weekend, football fans across Scotland go through the gates to watch their local teams win, lose or draw. Fans keep turning up in droves.

The popularity of football in Scotland speaks for itself. According to UEFA, in 2024-25, Scotland recorded significantly higher top-flight attendance per capita than any other league in Europe. Supporters turned out more than 5.3 million times to watch their teams across all Scottish Professional Football League competitions in that season. That is the highest figure in the SPFL era, and a rise of nearly 185,000 on the previous record.

With such encouraging statistics, Scotland is the obvious choice to host a major football tournament once again. We should be looking to build on our success in hosting major sporting events such as the Commonwealth games in 2014 and the 2020 European championship, with the upcoming Commonwealth games this summer and the European championship in 2028. Hosting major sporting events creates opportunities for the future, and there is no reason why Scotland cannot become a destination of choice for sporting fans around the world.

We should be looking to host more events in the future. Although the bill is necessary, and specific to the tournament in 2028, I hope that serious consideration is given in the future to taking a more strategic approach by introducing a framework bill to ensure that we are ready to host events that comply with the requirements of governing bodies such as UEFA in the future. That will ensure that we are ready and able to host, and we can free up valuable parliamentary time to focus our efforts on the day-to-day business of preparing for such major events. Hosting will not only benefit our economy; it will benefit people right across Scotland.

I have spoken out previously, as many members have this afternoon, about the importance of affordability. Fans being priced out of the game is not right—there should be no barriers to participation by spectating in our sport. However, there might not be a consensus about that. Not everyone has the bank balance of former Tory peer and Reform UK’s new Scotland leader, Lord Offord, who on “Question Time” seemed to suggest that it appeared reasonable for football fans to be charged £4,000 for a world cup match day ticket. He has already boasted that he is off to Miami for the world cup, and I assume that he might be taking his yacht with him. He lives in a different world from most hard-working Scots if he thinks that £4,000 for a ticket to watch a football match is affordable. I suppose that, for someone like him—a mortgage-free millionaire who lives in a mansion—it is just pocket change.

For most ordinary Scottish football fans, such prices are simply not affordable. Scotland manager Steve Clarke has quite rightly said that football fans should not get themselves into debt just to go to the world cup this year. Those of us who will not be going to the world cup should feel fortunate that most of us can hop on a bus or train to watch football here on our doorstep in 2028.

With Scotland set to compete in the world cup this summer for the first time in 28 years, there is a feel-good factor in football right now. There is also an exciting title race at the top of the Scottish premiership for the first time in a long time; I know that some members will be enjoying that title race a little more than others.

On that note, I am happy to confirm Scottish Labour’s support for the bill.

I am glad that Mr Kerr mentioned the importance of women’s football at the end of his speech. In addition to all the illustrious names that he and Mr Doris mentioned, I am sure that we would all welcome the contribution to football by Rose Reilly, Julie Fleeting, Erin Cuthbert, Caroline Weir, Rachel Corsie and the many others who have contributed to the women’s game.

I am pleased to open the stage 3 debate on the UEFA European Championship (Scotland) Bill on behalf of Scottish Labour and to speak in support of the bill. I also take the opportunity to thank the minister and his team for their engagement on the bill over the past few months, and to acknowledge the work on the bill of members and clerks on the Constitution, Europe, External Affairs and Culture Committee. Scottish Labour has consistently supported the UK and Ireland hosting of Euro 2028. That is why we have worked constructively with the minister and his team throughout the passage of the bill, and it is why Scottish Labour will support the bill at stage 3.

I note that Mr Kerr lodged a number of amendments to the bill and acknowledge that, although they were not agreed to, I believe that they secured important commitments and assurances.

As I said during the stage 1 debate, I know that many of us are looking forward to welcoming this major event to Scotland in 2028. For the younger generation, this will be the first opportunity to experience the Euros here in Scotland. We must also remember that, when Hampden park previously hosted the European championships in 2021, Covid restrictions were in place, so many fans were not able to be in the stadium to watch the matches.

As has been mentioned, the event will give football fans across Europe the opportunity to visit Scotland, perhaps for the first time. It will give fans an opportunity to explore our culture, our heritage and our rich history, and will provide a fantastic platform to promote brand Scotland.

At stage 1, I mentioned, as the minister did today, the economic benefits that the event will bring. They will be significant and will provide a much-needed boost to the Scottish economy. The UK Department for Culture, Media and Sport estimates that the tournament will contribute £2.4 billion in socioeconomic value to the host nations. I am pleased that Scotland will enjoy a slice of that pie.

It is important that we use our budgets to invest in sport and people. That is why I am pleased that the UK Labour Government recognised the importance of sport by pledging £900 million in funding as part of its plan for change. Although I welcome the increase in the sports budget that the Scottish Government announced earlier this week, it does not go far enough and does not deliver on the Scottish National Party’s promise to double that budget in this session of Parliament. That is regrettable.

Scottish Labour has always supported the Euros being held in the UK and Ireland in 2028, because we want more major international sporting events to come to Scotland. Those events will help our economy, raise our international profile and give people living in Scotland the opportunity to witness world-class sporting events on their doorstep. It is for those reasons that we encouraged the Scottish and UK Governments to work together to bring the Commonwealth games to Glasgow in 2026, an event that is now just a matter of months away, and it is why we also fully support the UK Labour Government working with football associations and the devolved Administrations to bring the women’s FIFA world cup to the UK in 2035. Such events contribute immense value to our society, wellbeing and economy. They also demonstrate the benefits of the Scottish Government working with the UK Government to bring those major events to Scotland.

As 2028 might feel like a long time from now, many football fans will be looking with envy at those who have managed to secure a ticket for the world cup this summer. Since Scotland qualified for the world cup last year, the cost of tickets has been part of a wider debate about the affordability of the event. We must prevent ordinary fans from being priced out of the game. Part of the reason for our hosting these events is to ensure that Scottish fans can access them without the additional cost of flights and accommodation elsewhere. That is why I believe that we should be looking to host more sporting events here.

Scottish Labour will support the bill at stage 3, as it has done at previous stages, because it is not just about meeting our obligations to UEFA; it is about the wider goal that we should have of being ready to host major sporting events right here in Scotland.

The cabinet secretary has talked about the need for partnership working and has stated that he is open to suggestions. What consideration has he given to establishing an advisory board or task force to consider the recommendations and their implementation, in order to ensure maximum confidence across the sector?

I do not know whether the cabinet secretary was listening before I took his intervention. I just said that, last year, you had £5 billion extra from the Labour Government, so you could hardly have cut the local councils budget.

I will give way if it is brief. I am limited for time.

The cabinet secretary can point to the last financial year, but his Government had £5 billion extra from the Labour UK Government, so he could hardly have cut the budget for local councils yet again.

A happy new year to you, Deputy Presiding Officer, and to everyone across the chamber.

Scottish Labour very much welcomes the debate, and I thank Jackson Carlaw and the Parliament’s Citizen Participation and Public Petitions Committee for securing it, given how precious parliamentary time is. This issue matters, and I commend the excellent work of Scottish Swimming’s staff and athletes in strongly advocating and campaigning for swimming to be accessible to all.

That is needed because, as we have heard, swimming is a life-saving skill. Swimming can boost the health and wellbeing of people of all ages, and it can ensure that our children and young people have the skills that they need to stay safe in the water. However, we should listen when Duncan Scott, Scotland’s most decorated Olympian, warns the Parliament that the number of drownings will only increase as a result of pool closures.

It is harder for our kids to learn to swim if the doors to the pools are locked; when swimming pools in Scotland close or community pools cut their opening hours; and when the cost of a swimming session rises. The cost of a swimming lesson has doubled since 2018, and, as we know, it is the poorest kids who are priced out. It is also harder because the pandemic resulted in growing waiting lists for kids’ swimming lessons. Everything right now seems to be making it harder, and it is our job to make it easier.

The petition before us urges the Scottish Government to keep our leisure facilities open. It also calls for urgent financial investment, and we know why that is needed. Years of Scottish National Party Government underfunding of Scotland’s local councils has resulted in local authority budgets being decimated, so that councils have less money to spend on leisure services and have to make difficult decisions.

I am limited for time, cabinet secretary.

It is not just about that £5 billion extra. As I told the petitions committee last year, when the Scottish Government, in this parliamentary session, received £6 million of Barnett consequentials from the previous UK Conservative Government’s swimming pool support fund, it resisted passing that money directly to local councils, despite colleagues across the chamber urging it to do so.

It is harder for people to access swimming pools and lessons just now because, for years, the Scottish Government has made it harder for councils to fund them.

It is important to recognise that swimming pools are expensive to run, and it would be remiss of me not to acknowledge that energy costs are a significant part of the reason for that. Soaring energy bills over the past few years have resulted in opening hours being cut and temperatures dropping in our pools. Stabilising and reducing energy bills and investing more in clean energy through GB Energy, as the UK Labour Government is doing, therefore needs to be a priority and could help our swimming pools and other sporting facilities.

We should remember that these facilities have survived crises in the past, including energy crises, and they can do so again. Yet, in recent years, they have faced a double whammy from cuts to council budgets and rising energy costs. As a result, in Scotland, the ticking time bomb is louder than ever. As Liz Smith said, we have 295 public pools, and Scottish Swimming estimates that 122 of them are more than 38 years old and coming to the end of their lifespan. Some pools will, inevitably, need to close, but we should be saying that community pools generally need greater protection from closure.

Therefore, we must come together and establish, as has been suggested, a cross-party working group and task force, along with Scottish Swimming and our local councils and leisure trusts, to develop a plan for a sustainable future for swimming in Scotland.

This petition is about more than just bricks and mortar. Swimming pools are a means to an end—boosting physical strength, supporting mental wellbeing and saving lives. Yet, on this Government’s watch, 40 per cent of our children are leaving primary school unable to swim. We are robbing them of their safety in a country where the drowning rate is double the UK average.

My party, Scottish Labour, is fully committed to changing that. We will ensure that every child in primary 5 has a chance to swim and learns the basics of water safety. We will work to fully implement Scottish Swimming’s national primary school swimming framework, which I was pleased to see at first hand at Gracemount leisure centre in December. We will also conduct a national audit of school swimming provision to identify the pupils who are most at risk. Most importantly, we will provide that £6 million investment to make national implementation of school swimming a reality.

After two decades of decline, there is no doubt that public assets such as our swimming pools have never been more under threat, and time is running out to do something about it. I hope that we can agree that we need to work together across the chamber, before and after the election, to secure the future of our swimming pools and give every child the chance to swim.

Last week, I met staff and volunteers at Accord Hospice, which runs the Renfrewshire bereavement network. The network provides vital support to people who are experiencing loss or dealing with grief. The service is free at the point of use and works with minimal wait for people.

Despite the high demand for its service, Accord is concerned about there being no secure commitment to funding from the health and social care partnership, which could potentially put the service at risk. That is exacerbated by a 7 per cent reduction in overall hospice funding from Renfrewshire HSCP this year.

Does the minister agree that organisations such as Accord Hospice are best placed to deliver such specialist services and that we should do everything that we can to protect them and their funding?