Eurovision – Labour accused of letting opportunity slip through their hands
The Welsh Liberal Democrats have accused the Welsh Government and Labour-run Cardiff Council of “letting an enormous opportunity slip through their hands” by withdrawing from the bid to host 2023 Eurovision in Cardiff.
The comments come after Cardiff Council announced this morning that they, along with the Welsh Government and the Principality stadium, will not go ahead with a bid to host Eurovision 2023.
The main reason for not going ahead with the bid has been put down to the risk of having to cancel a number of major events scheduled to take place at the Principality Stadium next Spring.
Showcase
Cardiff Liberal Democrat Leader Cllr Rhys Taylor said: “The Labour run council and Welsh Government have just let an enormous opportunity slip through their hands.
“Hosting Eurovision would have allowed us to showcase both Cardiff and Wales to the world.
“Both Scotland and England have hosted Eurovision in the past, it is long overdue that Wales got its own shot.
“To abandon the citt’s bid this early on shows a complete lack of ambition for Cardiff and Wales by Labour.”
“There are also questions to be answered about the reasoning for the abandonment of the bid, we know infrastructure arrangements had been raised as a concern by residents, especially following the Ed Sheeran concert a few months ago.
“If the Labour council had invested better in our public transport systems maybe, we would have a different outcome.”
Strong Case
A statement from Cardiff Council announcing the withdrawal reads: “The BBC, as the event organisers, have released detailed specifications for each city wishing to bid to host the event.
“As partners, we have been working through these in detail.
“It is clear that on many of these Cardiff would have a very strong case to become the host city for Eurovision 2023.
“However, the complexity of staging the event means that a significant number of scheduled events in the Principality Stadium during Spring 2023 would have to be cancelled as a result.
“These include the European Wheelchair Rugby Championships, ‘The Road to Principality’, a key event in the WRU Community rugby calendar, and a major international artist contracted to appear, among other events.”
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Perhaps the Lib Dems could lean on Cardiff Council to sort out the Drover’s Way Park and children’s playground instead of wasting their time with the BBC, if they have some money they don’t need spend it on defeating the Tories…
I don’t believe it, Sajid Javid, the labour Mayor of London supports either of the two Tory contenders for PM…surely he could have said none of the above, I get it why he might not want Sunak, but to say you support the lunatic rather abstain does him no credit. It is on a par with Starmer’s opposition…
A Lib Dem talking about showcasing Wales and about Scotland and England being previous hosts. They don’t recognise these countries as the are a UK party as is our part in Eurovision. If they have finally recognised these countries, perhaps they could get behind the push for Independence. Then and only then can Wales showcase itself to the world.
Given how badly Cardiff has dealt with major events recently, this is probably for the best. But Rodney is right that the reason that Cardiff has suffered so badly in these events is the lack of preparedness and investment from Labour in the City Council and Senedd.
A huge lack of ambition as well
Investment in rail is made by Westminster not Cardiff and Wales gets over 40% less per mile than England gets. Wales is investing £5Bn in rail by 2033, Kent alone is getting £1.25Bn by 2024.
The maths is pretty simple.
So the Lib Dems think the Welsh Government lacks ‘ambition’ by not going for ‘Eurovision’, Seriously? Ask yourselves why nobody votes for you