General election 2024: Politics relegated to second place as Euros football tournament kicks off
Politics looks set to take second place to football from tonight as Scotland’s Euros adventure kicks off in Germany, pushing the general election to the back of many people’s minds.
Politicians will be fighting a losing battle with Steve Clarke’s squad and the Tartan Army for prominence in news coverage. And party activists will risk annoying the voters they need to win over if they go knocking doors while matches are being screened.
Scotland plays Germany tonight in the opening match of the tournament. And the competition will continue right up polling day on July 4 and beyond.
One Labour campaign insider said: “There are going to be lots of days when the nightly news bulletins are curtailed or are not going to give much time to politics. The football will also suck up loads and loads of space in the papers as well. Basically, football will take over for the next three weeks.”
And he acknowledged there would be an impact on normal election campaigning. “Realistically, local campaigners are going to be smart enough to know not to chap doors on certain nights. No-one's going to be knocking doors at 8pm tonight, for example.
“If people are watching a football game they don't necessarily want be interrupted to talk about energy bills and the state of the NHS. But there are no directives going out from HQ. Most people will know - or find out pretty quickly.”
The parties are not giving up on their campaigns, however. The SNP has yet to launch its manifesto and the other parties have to launch their Scottish manifestos.
“We’re not going to stop doing things,” said the Labour insider. “We’re going to continue to campaign, we'll have an election visit every day and so on. You just have to be wise about the time you're spending.”
An SNP source said it was not only voters whose attention was switching to the football - some party activists had decided to swap pounding the streets delivering leaflets for cheering on the national team over in Germany. “One local organiser has lost six people to the Euros.”
He said the clash of the election with the Euros came on top of the problem of polling day falling in the school holidays, when many people will be away.
“It makes it difficult to reach voters and speak to people. We’ve just got to ride it as best we can. We've still got a very active party but it doesn't make it any easier.
“We’ll be looking at the schedule and trying to fit round some of the bigger games. There's no point in knocking on someone's door when Sotland are playing Germany in the opener - that's more likely to lose you votes.”
But he said the football also created a more upbeat mood. “There’s a feelgood factor abroad, a bit more of a buzz about - and that's certainly not been generated by the election.”
And he thought if Scotland did well in the Euros, it might even help the SNP’s chances in the election. “I don’t think you cn make a crass read-across, but it might mean a boost to confidence in the country.”
A BBC Scotland spokesperson: “We will be making some changes to our schedules to accommodate the timings of matches at the Euros, but we’ll still be offering comprehensive coverage of the election campaign and results.
“We’ll continue to showcase this great summer of sport - including the Euros and Wimbledon - alongside our reporting of the election on television, radio and our digital platforms.”
And STV said: “We will continue our extensive coverage of the general election campaign as the UEFA Euros 2024 tournament gets underway with the first match live on STV and STV Player.”