Eurovision a major opportunity for Liverpool, minister says

Liverpool must do what it does best and "show everyone how to party" as it hosts Eurovision, a minister has said.

Stuart Andrew, whose remit includes the contest, said he met business owners in the city ahead of last night's official handover ceremony and shared his hopes they could capitalise on it.

The culture minister said it was "a major opportunity" for the city.

Liverpool City Council's chief executive has called it a "once in a decade" chance to bring in investment.

Mr Andrew said he would "do all I can to maximise the benefits from it".

"I was here recently for the World Gymnastics Championships and the feedback was incredible," he said.

"The city knows how to put on big events."

The government has not said how much money it will contribute to staging the contest, but Liverpool City Council and Liverpool City Region Combined Authority are to spend a combined £4m on the event.

That money will include funding for an education programme for schools and young people and several new art commissions which are due to be unveiled in the next few weeks.

The BBC and other European broadcasters will also be contributing.

The city council's chief executive Theresa Grant said it was a "once in a decade" opportunity to bring in investment and estimates put the potential value to the local economy at somewhere between £16m and £25m.

City mayor Joanne Anderson has defended spending public money on the event.

She said the money the council was contributing will come "from our culture budget".

The Labour mayor said the city "put a cap on our bid and it was less than other cities", but the area was "already seeing the benefit" and expected to see "a multimillion-pound tourism boost over the next three years".

"Our hospitality sector was battered during Covid," she said.

"Bidding for this was a no brainer. Our visitor economy is our USP and we need to ensure that we maintain it.

"That £2m investment will see a huge return [and] we are going to maximise the opportunity for future investment too."

However, not all of the city's politicians have been so enthusiastic.

Sam Gorst, the independent councillor for Cressington, said "only big business will benefit" from the spending.

"It won't filter down to Garston and Norris Green," he added.

But Mr Andrew said the value to previous host cities had been made clear to him.

"What we have learned from other host countries is the more you take advantage of hosting Eurovision, the more you get back," the Conservative said.

"Tourism rates goes up, visitor numbers go up, spending goes up, and that's what we want to see.

"This will showcase the Liverpool City Region to 100 million people."