Blair: I dreamed of uniting English and Scottish football

TONY BLAIR has disclosed that he wanted the English and Scottish football leagues to merge when he was prime minister as a way of heading off the threat of Scottish independence.

Mr Blair said he was “obsessed” with the idea after he initiated Scotland’s devolution 20 years ago. He said a joint football league would promote “convergence” between the countries and keep them “culturally aligned”.

He said: “I was for a time quite obsessed with the idea that, for example, for football we should be opening up the English league and the Scottish league and having them together. I was looking for ways of making sure that as we in a sense diverged around devolution that there were elements of convergence.” Mr Blair’s government held a referendum on Scottish devolution shortly after being swept to power in 1997. The referendum had been a key pledge in the Labour Party’s manifesto but proved to be hugely divisive.

Reflecting on the anniversary of the referendum, Mr Blair told BBC Scotland: “In retrospect I would have looked for more ways of trying to keep Scotland and England culturally aligned.”

Hannah Bardell, an SNP MP, said: “Tony Blair has an outdated view of the cultural and sporting identity of the nations of the UK as homogenous. We need to recognise and appreciate the distinct nature of the devolved nations and their sporting identities.”

Clive Betts, Labour MP for Sheffield South East, said that the proposal “wouldn’t be terribly popular with supporters” and that he doubted it would go anywhere.