IN THE Olympics you get no medals for failure, but in politics if you are a dud, you get brickbats and booby prizes and last night they were heading for Scottish Labour and its sports spokesman Lewis MacDonald.
In an astonishing schoolboy error, Macdonald claimed that the SNP Government was cutting investment in Scottish sport by 17 per cent when in fact the Government’s spending has risen by 24 per cent.
The problem for Macdonald is that he clearly confused the total budget for sportscotland, the national sports agency, with government spending on sport, either forgetting or being ignorant of the fact that sportscotland’s budget comes from both the government and the National Lottery.
Sportscotland immediately confirmed that the agency’s total investment from the Scottish Government has increased from £89,350,116 during 2013-14 to 2014-15 to £110,667,000 during 2015-16 to 2016-17, a 24 per cent increase.
Scottish Labour stated that “The SNP Government cuts have forced spending on Scottish sport to be slashed.”
Their statement claimed that “Sportscotland has reduced spending halfway through a two-year business plan, after the last SNP budget slashed spending on Scotland’s sporting agency.
Scottish Labour added: “In total sportscotland has been forced to cut the amount it invests in the sports stars of tomorrow by 17 per cent, from £55 million to £46 million.”
Macdonald said: “Thousands of boys and girls across Scotland will have watched the exploits of Laura Trott, Mo Farah, and, of course, Andy Murray and be inspired to get on their bike or pick up a racket. Rather than build on this excitement and enthusiasm, the SNP have instead slashed funding for our sports agency.”
Sportscotland officials told The National that “the picture is a lot rosier than he’s painted” and were frankly amazed that Macdonald had quoted the figures he used.
A sportscotland spokesperson said: “These figures are for both Scottish Government and National Lottery investment.
“It is entirely normal for our investment levels from the Scottish Government and National Lottery to fluctuate from year to year.
“Sportscotland’s total investment from the Scottish Government has increased from £89,350,116 during 2013-14 to 2014-15 to £110,667,000 during 2015-16 to 2016-17, a 24 per cent increase.
“We are fortunate that successive Scottish Government administrations have recognised the importance of investing in sport and physical activity and that there is also cross-party support.
“Thanks to investment from Scottish Government and National Lottery, the sporting system in Scotland from community to clubs to performance is the strongest it has ever been.”
Aileen Campbell, minister for public health and sport, said: “We have worked to protect support for sport and physical activity in the face of real terms cuts of over 10 per cent to the discretionary Scottish budget from the UK Government between 2010 and 2020. As sportscotland has confirmed, its total investment from the Scottish Government has increased by 24 per cent from 2013-15 compared to 2015-17.
Campbell continued: “We’ve budgeted this year for overall support for sport and physical activity to be maintained, as well as making targeted investments in additional programmes that help people realise the health benefits of being active – such as the new £1 million scheme which encourages people with mental health problems to become more physically active.
“We have also invested £24 million in Scotland’s new sports performance centre and £6 million in Scotland’s first dedicated para-sports facility.”
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