I’ve got to hand it to Midlothian Council. When the Scottish Government declared June 15 a national bank holiday for the World Cup, they actually stopped to think about what that means for folk who can barely afford their heating.
Councillor Kelly Parry put it plainly: £130,000 for a day off to watch football, or nearly half their yearly cost-of-living support budget. It’s not exactly a tough choice when you’re a local authority watching families skip meals.
East Lothian’s taken the same line. Both councils are looking at big screens and community events instead, which strikes me as the right balance. You can still celebrate Scotland’s first World Cup in 28 years without bankrupting the people who need help most.
A public holiday for the World Cup would cost Midlothian Council approximately £130,000 – that is almost half our yearly allocation of cost-of-living support. I don’t think it is the right priority.
Holyrood’s Grand Gesture
The Scottish Government made this declaration from their comfortable distance, letting individual councils figure out how to pay for it. That’s the problem with grand gestures: someone else always foots the bill.
I’m all for celebrating the national team. God knows we’ve waited long enough. But when councils are choosing between a bank holiday and keeping folk fed, maybe Holyrood should’ve offered to cover the cost themselves.
School projects, community screenings, workplace flexibility for those who want to watch. There’s a dozen ways to mark the occasion without forcing councils to choose between patriotism and poverty relief.
The Real Priority
This is what local government looks like when it’s actually thinking about priorities. Midlothian and East Lothian aren’t being killjoys. They’re being realistic about what £130,000 means when you’re already stretched thin.
The World Cup will be brilliant regardless. But folk will remember which councils thought about their wallets first, and which ones just ticked the patriotic box and sent the bill downstairs.