A Conservative MP was told to “pipe down” last night after reviving calls for the Scotland football team to be scrapped and merged into a UK team.
England’s early exit from the World Cup prompted Laurence Robertson, the MP for Tewkesbury, to table a motion at Westminster saying the home countries should join forces.
He said that “no other nation fields more than one national team” – suggesting it was time to put old rivalries aside to boost performances on the international stage.
A Great Britain football team appeared at the London 2012 Olympics, although only consisted of English and Welsh players.
The Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish football associations were opposed to a combined team competing at the games, despite assurances from world governing body FIFA that it would not affect their independence as footballing nations.
The motion was lodged amid an intense debate about Scotland’s national identity and constitutional future, just weeks before the independence referendum.
No other MP had signed the Commons motion by yesterday evening.
SNP MP Pete Wishart suggested such calls could risk the status of Scotland’s team.
“Laurence Robertson is just the latest Westminster MP to come up with the UK Football team idea and each time it is mentioned it gets noticed by the international footballing authorities,” he said.
“We must do absolutely nothing to threaten our footballing independence and I wish these Westminster MPs would just pipe down.
“Last time it was Labour trying to force us into a Team GB for the Olympics, this time it is a Tory backbencher going straight to scrapping our national team.”