McConnell: English are welcome but I want Ecuador to beat them

"The increase in our population is largely due to people from elsewhere in the United Kingdom, and they are very welcome here and they will be for years to come." - JACK MCCONNELL

Story in full JACK McConnell insisted yesterday that Scotland would continue to be a warm and welcoming place for English people - and then admitted he would be supporting Ecuador, England's opponents in their World Cup match on Sunday.

The First Minister has come in for intense criticism for supporting the teams playing against England in the World Cup and one London company cancelled a lucrative conference in Scotland in protest at his refusal to back his neighbours.

But Mr McConnell remained undaunted yesterday, revealing that he would be cheering on Ecuador when the South Americans play England in the first knock-out round this weekend.

When asked who he was supporting on Sunday, Mr McConnell replied: "You know me. I always back the underdog."

Given that Ecuador are the rank outsiders for the game - the odds have England 1-4 on and Ecuador 8-1 against - the First Minister's choice was clear.

But what made his latest intervention all the more remarkable was that it came shortly after he had appealed to English people not to be put off by recent attacks on English football fans in Scotland, insisting Scots were still welcoming, tolerant people.

Mr McConnell was asked at First Minister's Questions about the two recent attacks - on a seven-year-old boy in Edinburgh and a disabled man in Aberdeen, both of whom were assaulted for wearing England football shirts. The First Minister condemned the attacks as "entirely unacceptable" and said that if they were proven to be racist attacks, they should be prosecuted as such.

He suggested successful prosecutions for the offences would help restore Scotland's reputation and send out the message that Scotland was still a welcoming environment for visitors and migrants, particularly those from south of the Border.

He said: "We would all want to back the police and ultimately the procurators-fiscal in the areas concerned in making sure they do send a signal throughout Scotland and elsewhere."

Mr McConnell said the signal would be that such attacks "run against the trend" of a reduction in violent crime and the positive way most Scots have been approaching the World Cup.

He added: "We have to make sure they do send a signal that this has been a welcoming country not just [to those] from elsewhere in the world, but people from England in recent years."

The First Minister stressed that everybody would still be welcome in Scotland, saying: "The increase in our population is largely due to people from elsewhere in the United Kingdom, and they are very welcome here and they will be for years to come."

No politician, from any party, blamed Mr McConnell for stirring up anti-English violence in Scotland, but some warned that the First Minister's remarks had been counter-productive in trying to show a positive image to his nearest neighbours.

Conservative MSP Jamie McGrigor said: "The First Minister's pronouncement about supporting Trinidad and Tobago against England was not helpful. It would have been more appropriate to say nothing."

But the First Minister's spokesman said: "The First Minister does not regret saying that he would be supporting Trinidad and Tobago. What the First Minister said was that he would not be supporting England and would be supporting the underdogs, and gave a few examples.

"He also said he would be supporting teams with Scottish-based players and Trinidad and Tobago have a large number of Scottish-based players."

Meanwhile, Nick McCarthy, of Scots band Franz Ferdinand - who was born in England but spent his childhood in Germany before moving to Scotland - branded England a "s***hole" in an interview with a German website and said he wants Germany to win the World Cup.