Politics

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Selling Wales to the world during the Champions League Final

With around 170,000 additional visitors expected in Cardiff and an estimated global TV audience of 200 million across 200 countries and territories, few events can match the Champions League Final for size and scope.  With Juventus and Real Madrid taking part in the men’s UEFA Champions League Final and Lyon and Paris Saint-Germain competing in the Women’s Champions League Final, Cardiff is expected to be incredibly busy and alive with not only Spanish and Italian and French voices, but with people and languages from every corner of the globe, including an estimated 2,500 members of the media. 

The work of marketing Wales as host nation has been ongoing since the start of 2017.  A competition  was part of the Visit Wales stand at  ITB Berlin, the world’s largest travel market, with a prize to win a week-long holiday in Wales and two tickets for the men’s and women’s champions league final, there were over 16,000 entries.  The Champions League Final Trophies also made an appearance at the stand and proved very popular. 

Following the launch of the Iberia Madrid to Cardiff flight, familiarisation visits were hosted for journalists and tour operators from Madrid to experience what Cardiff had to offer – should their team make the final.  Spanish Tour Operators and Iberia Airways are now promoting The Champions League and city breaks to Cardiff through their own channels. Spanish tour operator, Politours are specifically using the Champions League as a way of clients recognising Wales as a city break and holiday destination. 

New videos have also been produced including restaurateurs promoting Cardiff filmed and distributed in Italian – You Tube (external link), Spanish –  You Tube (external link) and English – You Tube (external link) .  A new video of young Welsh boy dreaming of playing in Champions League final  (external link) has been distributed through social media channels.

International pages have been set up on visitwales.com (external link) in French, Spanish and Catalan, which has further promotion of the Champions League Final and Wales as a holiday destination. A digital destination marketing campaign is also running in Spain and France to promote Wales. 

In order to inform those travelling fans, a Cardiff Mini Guide has produced in Spanish, Italian and French and distributed through Visit Wales and VisitBritain channels.  Welcome messages from Wales will be placed in Cardiff Airport, Cardiff Central Train Station and Cathedral Road and well as gateway branding in London Paddington and Schiphol Airport Amsterdam.   Visit Wales will also have a stand in the Champions Festival Village showcasing what the country has to offer –  and should the excitement of the matches not be enough – there will be a 360 virtual reality Zip wire and white water rafting experience.

Economy Secretary, Ken Skates, said: 

“The UEFA Champions League Final is a fantastic opportunity for people across the world to see what Wales can deliver, whilst providing hundreds of thousands the opportunity to sample our excellent tourism, produce and business offering. I’m delighted that we’re able to welcome legendary footballers from around the world to Wales during our Year of Legends.

“For the first time in eight years, the numbers of overseas visitors to Wales crossed the 1 million mark in 2016 – and we saw record breaking spend figures from our overseas markets. Hosting this event will give Wales further opportunities to raise awareness of Wales has a holiday destination in key overseas markets. 

“For many fans, this will be their first visit to Wales, we hope they have a fantastic time in Wales – enjoy the welcome and the atmosphere and will come back to visit again soon. We will continue to make the most of having the opportunity to host such legendary event long after the final whistle sounds.”

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Welsh Government •

Sturgeon urged to abandon damaging plan for separate Scottish Brexit deal

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  • Sturgeon urged to abandon damaging plan for separate Scottish Brexit deal

31 May 2017

07 May 2011 MSP pictured in the garden lobby during the MSP registration session. Pic - Andrew Cowan/Scottish Parliament

The Scottish Conservatives have called on Nicola Sturgeon to abandon her damaging plan for a separate Scottish Brexit deal.

Murdo Fraser, the Scottish Conservatives finance spokesman, said SNP proposals to keep Scotland in the Single Market when the UK leaves the EU would create costly barriers to trade within the UK.

He spoke out after the Institute for Fiscal Studies think tank published a damning analysis of the SNP’s election manifesto.

In it, the IFS concluded the cost of creating barriers to trade within the UK could outweigh any advantages of Single Market membership.

Scotland’s trade with the rest of the UK is worth four times as much as our exports to the EU.

Scottish Conservative shadow finance secretary Murdo Fraser said: 

“The Scottish and UK governments spent weeks discussing Nicola Sturgeon’s proposals for a separate Scottish Brexit deal.

“The Nationalists failed to produce evidence that it was either desirable or workable – and they pre-empted the conclusion of the discussions by demanding a second independence referendum.

“Since then they have produced no fresh evidence to support their plan yet they are now threatening to put it back on the table after the election.

“As the IFS report shows, their proposals could prove very costly for Scottish businesses and that would be hugely damaging for the economy and jobs.

“The SNP need to work with Theresa May to secure a Brexit deal that works for Scotland and the whole of the UK.

“The United Kingdom should present a united front in Brexit talks.

“Nicola Sturgeon’s demands are just about picking a fight with Westminster and can only undermine efforts to get the right Brexit deal for Scotland.”

The IFS analysis is here: https://www.ifs.org.uk/publications/9273

The SNP manifesto (p30) says: “If the SNP wins the election, it will give us a mandate to demand a place for Scotland at the Brexit negotiating table and the inclusion of the case for our place in the Single Market in the UK’s negotiating remit.”

In March, Brexit Secretary David Davis warned the Scottish Government’s proposals would create barriers to trade and cause “significant disruption” to the UK internal market. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-39744871

The Scottish Government’s own figures show trade with rest of the UK is worth four times as much to Scotland as exports to the EU. Statics here: http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Economy/Exports/ESSPublication

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Scottish Conservatives

News story: CNC officers visit college to spread the word about Project Servator

PC James Brown, an Authorised Firearms Officer at Sellafield, set up the visit and spoke to 250 students and teachers at the Lakes College in Workington, alongside colleagues from the CNC Firearms Training Unit and officers from Cumbria Constabulary, who James invited to take part.

The aim of the visit was to discuss community engagement and Jamie and his CNC colleagues talked about Project Servator and its national rollout, as well as the Stay Safe campaign and the importance of reporting suspicious activity.

Project Servator sees highly visible yet unpredictable deployments of specially trained CNC officers around the Sellafield site and the surrounding local community. The operational deployments involve officers working together with communities to report suspicious activity. These officers are deployed to deter, help detect, and provide reassurance and confidence to members of the public.

The tactics used as part of Project Servator are not new and are also used regularly by the City of London Police, British Transport Police and Police Scotland. They have been developed to enhance the effectiveness of our resources and not as a response to any change in threat.

PC Brown said: “We had very positive feedback from the students who listened to our talk and were able to ask questions about our role. As a national armed police force, a major part of our role is counter terrorism policing. We need the local communities around our sites to be vigilant to any suspicious activity and it was great to be able to get this message across to the young people at the schools and colleges we visited.

“As well as setting up other visits to schools and colleges in the area, Project Servator officers have also visited offices and local business to spread awareness of the initiative.

“We have been invited back to the Lakes College in September to speak to their new intake of students and look forward to meeting them and spreading awareness of the CNC, Project Servator and the part they can play in community policing.”

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HM Government

MP dossier reveals how the SNP’s ‘lion has snored’

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  • MP dossier reveals how the SNP’s ‘lion has snored’

31 May 2017

JCChoice

New analysis examining the performance of SNP MPs at Westminster shows “the lion hasn’t roared, it has snored”, the Scottish Conservatives have said.

The 31-page document reveals how much nationalist MPs have claimed in expenses since being elected in 2015, as well as the number of times they’ve voted, the foreign trips they’ve been on and the rate of constituency questions answered.

The study shows 33 of the 54 SNP MPs are ranked in the bottom half of all MPs for response rates to constituents.

They also totted up huge amounts in expenses, with Edinburgh South West MP Joanna Cherry the second most expensive MP in the UK.

And despite senior SNP figures criticising politicians have second jobs, 13 nationalists raked in thousands in additional payments.

As well as the analysis laid out in the document, three MPs were investigated by police last year, with two – Michelle Thomson and Natalie McGarry – having to resign the whip.

Scottish Conservative deputy leader Jackson Carlaw said:

“After the last General Election, dozens of SNP MPs trooped down to Westminster.

“We were promised a new style of politics, and Alex Salmond boasted that the ‘Scottish lion has roared’.

“But the conclusion from this document is clear – the lion hasn’t roared, it has snored.

“And if Scotland wants better, more constructive and thoughtful representation, there would be no better place to start than voting this lot out.”

To see the full document, visit:
http://www.scottishconservatives.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/2017-05-30-The-Lion-Snores-FINAL.pdf

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Scottish Conservatives