Meeting of the Parliament 11 November 2025
Of course, we all welcome the opportunity for Scotland to host an international sporting event with the prestige of the Euros. Euro 2028 will provide a platform to promote Scotland and to showcase the warmth and hospitality of Scotland’s people.
Every one of us wants to see Scotland’s men’s team playing in the finals, but, as we consider the bill, let us not be naive about what UEFA is. It is a powerful supranational corporation that is unaccountable to any public body—it is accountable only to its member associations. The bill is, in essence, the domestic legal instrument through which Scotland will deliver the guarantees that UEFA demands. We should proceed with our eyes wide open, aware that we are implementing the conditions of a commercial contract, not designing policy from first principles.
The bill’s first substantive sections—sections 2 to 4—criminalise the unauthorised sale or resale of championship tickets above face value or for profit, as the minister mentioned. The offence will result in a summary conviction only and will be punishable by a fine up to level 5 on the standard scale, which is currently £5,000.
The provision applies to tickets, including those that are sold or advertised electronically, for all matches that are played in Scotland. However, crucially, the provision does not extend beyond the territory of Scotland, which means that anyone operating an online resale platform outside Scotland or simply listing tickets on an external-based website falls outside the bill’s reach. The Government’s legal directorate confirmed that the extraterritorial competence that is required to go further is lacking. We agree that touting is a scourge that prices fans out of major events, but fragmented national regulation invites exploitation. A UK-wide framework would close loopholes and simplify enforcement by Police Scotland and the Crown Office. The principle of the bill is right, but its scope is inadequate.
There is also an issue of equity and common sense in how the offence is framed. UEFA and its authorised partners are exempt from the touting ban, but community groups, schools and charities are not. Under the bill, a parent council raffling Euro 2028 tickets to raise funds or a local hospice auctioning a pair of tickets at an event would technically be committing a criminal offence. That cannot be right. Charitable causes, especially those that are rooted in our local communities, should not be collateral damage in UEFA’s efforts to police its commercial rights. The exemption must be broadened to allow legitimate charitable fundraising.
Sections 5 to 15 will restrict unauthorised street trading and advertising within the designated event zones around Hampden park and the official fan zones. Those zones and the prohibited times will be defined later by statutory instruments under the negative procedure. As has already been said, Glasgow City Council must publish guidance and offer alternative trading arrangements for licensed street traders who are displaced during the tournament. However, there is no provision for compensation for those traders or for small, fixed-premises businesses that might suffer loss of trade. In fact, the committee received communication from UEFA just yesterday saying that there was no intention to offer any legitimate compensation.
Because we have to, we recognise UEFA’s legitimate commercial interest in preventing ambush marketing and protecting official sponsors. However, local cafes, kiosks and stallholders who have traded in Mount Florida for years will see their peak earning period removed. If any compensation is due, it must come from UEFA, not from Scottish taxpayers. The party of business cannot support the public purse underwriting a multibillion-euro organisation.