Firm cancels Scots event after World Cup snub to England

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JACK McConnell, the First Minister, was accused last night of damaging the Scottish economy after it emerged that a company had cancelled a conference in Scotland in response to his "anti-English" approach to the World Cup.

The Scotsman has learned that the English company's managers reacted angrily to Mr McConnell support for Trinidad and Tobago, one of England's World Cup opponents, and wrote to the Scottish Tourism Forum (STF) saying it had decided to pull out of the event planned for a hotel north of the Border.

Alan Rankin, the chief executive of the STF, said: "We have had a letter from an English company who have written to us to advise they had picked a conference to be run in Scotland and had elected not to do it on the back of the First Minister's comments.

"They had booked a conference with Swallow Hotels group. They had decided to cancel and take their business elsewhere."

Mr Rankin described the firm's position as an "extreme view" but said of Mr McConnell's comments: "Everyone's open to their own opinion. But it's not helpful towards tourism if that line is followed.

"Fundamentally, it's not helpful to the development of tourism with so many coming from south of the Border."

Mr McConnell sparked consternation last month when he said he would be cheering for England's opponents in the World Cup.

He said: "Scotland, my team, is not there, so that's disappointing. There are people who think that, as First Minister, I should be supporting England instead, but football is not about politics so I will not be.

"I will be supporting other teams in the various games I will manage to watch."

Asked who that might be, he said: "There are many teams in the World Cup who have got Scottish-based players playing for them - Trinidad and Angola, other teams too. I will be watching their games with interest."

Peter Taylor, of the British Hospitality Association Scotland , who is also chairman of the Town House Company hotel group, condemned Mr McConnell's comments.

"He didn't need to say it. If that's his personal view, then fine, but as First Minister of the country, it's not helpful," he said.

"There is a real concern with this. It's been going on for a few weeks now. It seems to be small-minded to support England's opponents and it's really not helpful to upset your biggest customer and biggest neighbour."

Last night, a source close to Mr McConnell described the criticism of the First Minister as "complete rubbish", and added: "This is football not politics."

However, Mr McConnell is at odds with Gordon Brown, the Chancellor, who has said he will cheer for England and even plans to attend their game against Sweden in Cologne next Tuesday.

News of the company's decision to pull its conference business out of Scotland came as tourism leaders warned displays of anti-Englishness could cost the country millions of pounds - more than 90 per cent of the 4 billion generated in Scotland from tourism comes from UK holidaymakers, the bulk of them from England.

But most Scots say they will not support England in the World Cup: a survey last week showed two-thirds would not back Sven-Goran Eriksson's team.

England's first game in the tournament, a 1-0 win over Paraguay on Saturday, sparked a vociferous anti-English reaction at pubs all over Scotland.

Peter Lederer, the chairman of VisitScotland, warned of the financial cost to Scotland if the World Cup became the focus of anti-English behaviour.

He said: "There are serious concerns that the banter may become something more serious.

"This is a very important issue because there is no doubt the cost will run into millions of pounds if the perception after the World Cup is that Scotland is not a welcoming place."

"Light-hearted banter is fine, but when does [it] becomes more serious and something that affects Scotland in a very negative way? We need to be more responsible because a vast amount of our business comes from the UK market."