Hospitality ‘watching with trepidation’ as Euro fan zone plans come under fire by opposition MSPs

Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care- Humza Yousaf

Opposition MSPs have called plans for the Euro 2020 fan zone in Glasgow ‘baffling’ and that hospitality is ‘watching on with trepidation’, given the tight rules in other sectors. Up to 6,000 ticketholders a day will be able watch matches on large screens at Glasgow Green over the 31-day event.

Health Secretary Humza Yousaf (pictured) has insisted the outdoor space will be highly regulated but some opposition MSPs say that those attending the Glasgow fan zones should be subject to further Covid measures such as mass testing or temperature checks.

Scottish Lib Dem MSP Alex Cole-Hamilton warned that a failure to mass test could be part of a “catalogue of errors” that we “will pay for for the rest of the summer”.

He said, “I think we still have time to turn this around – Glasgow Life have a plan. (The hospitality industry) is watching on with trepidation, that this might lead to another spike that could force their businesses to close after all the money they’ve spent. For a government reported to have exercised such caution, this is baffling.”

Scottish Labour’s health spokeswoman Jackie Baillie told the BBC’s Good Morning Scotland programme that fan zone organisers Glasgow Life had offered to put a system of testing in place – but this was refused by Scotland’s national clinical director, Jason Leitch.

She said, “People really don’t understand the lack of consistency from the Scottish government. It just takes one person to have missed the opportunity to test themselves for Covid to spread – it’s whether that is an acceptable risk or not.

“If we are stopping soft play openings, and all sorts of other activities would be considered much safer, then people don’t understand why people are going ahead with a mass event.”

Euro 2020 kicks off on 11 June, with Glasgow one of 11 host cities.