Lord Jack McConnell endorses Glasgow’s hosting of 2026 Commonwealth Games

Former Scottish first minister Lord Jack McConnell says it is “absolutely” a no-brainer that Glasgow should host the Commonwealth Games in 2026.

Lord McConnell said bringing the Games back to Glasgow, which staged the event in 2014, would be good for Scotland and see the country contributing on an international stage.

He also said that by designing a scaled-down version of the event, Commonwealth Games Scotland may well have “saved the Commonwealth Games for the foreseeable future” as other cities may find hosting them financially viable.

The Australian state of Victoria withdrew as hosts last year citing a rise in estimated costs, creating huge uncertainty over the Games’ future.

However, Glasgow is now poised to be confirmed as hosts, with Scottish Government officials having been involved in meetings with Commonwealth Games Australia representatives this week to discuss the potential for the next instalment of the multi-sport event to be moved to Scotland’s largest city.

Lord McConnell was asked on BBC Radio Scotland’s Good Morning Scotland programme whether it would be a “no-brainer” for the games to return to Glasgow.

He said: “Oh, absolutely. This is a fantastic effort by the Commonwealth Games council for Scotland, otherwise known as Team Scotland, who have stepped in and not only helped design a scaled-down Games that will, in the short term, (be in place for) these Games, but maybe in the long term, make the Games viable for other cities around the world.

“But they’ve also pushed very hard and managed to persuade the politicians to raise their ambitions a bit and back the idea.

“So I think it’s great, and I’m delighted that finally people have come together.

Lord McConnell, who was involved in the successful bid to bring the 2014 Games to Glasgow, said bringing the event back would be good for the city and might help it “spruce itself up a bit and use these amazing facilities again”.

Funding of around £100million is coming from the Commonwealth Games Federation, while Commonwealth Games Australia is set to hand some of the settlement it received in the cancellation of the Victoria Games across to help put the Games on in Glasgow.

Lord McConnell added: “If this Glasgow Games can get the backing today, can then happen successfully, I think we will see in future decisions, we’ll see cities competing for the Games, and it will not just be scraping around to find out who will pick up the tab, but actually people saying ‘we’re going to be next’.”

The multi-sport event is held every four years across Commonwealth countries, with Birmingham the most recent host city in 2022. Edinburgh staged the Games in 1970 and 1986.