PLANS for an all expenses-paid trip which could see up to four councillors attending Scotland's opening World Cup game against Brazil in France are set to be investigated by the Scottish Labour Party.
Thousands of ticketless Scots fans denied the chance of going to the World Cup could be upstaged by the North Lanarkshire Council delegation.
They are scheduled to take in the match as part of the signing of a new twinning agreement with the French municipality of St Denis.
The game will be held in the Stade de France in the Paris suburb of St Denis, which was formerly twinned with Coatbridge.
The French municipality has invited North Lanarkshire Council's Provost Vincent Mathieson and three others to be its guest at the opening game.
The council's director of administration, Mr John O'Hagan, has recommended approval of the trip which was also agreed by a council committee.
The new twinning agreement takes account of local government reorganisation in Scotland.
The French council is to pay for the accommodation on the proposed trip, but travel will be paid for by North Lanarkshire council tax payers.
Scottish Labour Party general secretary, Alex Rowley, last night told The Herald: ''We will check this matter and speak to the local authority concerned.
If it is the case that a Labour-run council is going to the World Cup at the expense of the taxpayer, that would be a situation we would not find acceptable.''
Provost Mathieson said: ''It is still to be decided who will be going. I have to be there because I have formal duties to attend to.
''The council is still giving thought to who else will go. It
could be councillors or it could be council officials.''
However, the plans have enraged Opposition parties.
SNP councillor Kathleen McAlorum said: ''It is a scandal that real Scotland fans cannot get to this match, yet it appears to be easy for North Lanarkshire Labour councillors or officials to book their seats.''
Scottish Tory local government spokesman, Ms Daphne Sleigh, said the trip amounted to a ''free-loaders charter'' and added: ''I am sure there will be concern about this across Scotland, never mind among the North Lanarkshire electorate.''
Lib-Dem Arthur Bell, a Lanarkshire businessman, said: ''I find it an amazing co-incidence that an old twinning link between Coatbridge and St Denis should be re-established involving North Lan- arkshire on the very day Scotland play Brazil. We now know who the winners are in this year's World Cup: North Lanarkshire's Provost and the other officials or councillors who are lucky enough to go.
''This is an insult to the hundreds of thousands of genuine Scotland fans who simply cannot get to this game.''
Several Cabinet Ministers are set to attend the showpiece tournament, despite Prime Minister Tony Blair's order in February that they should stay away from matches at this summer's tournament to avoid the accusation of freeloading at taxpayers' expense.
He decreed that only one Minister should represent the Government at each of the group games and that all unofficial visits should be approved by Downing Street.
Among those likely to attend the tournament, after claiming official reasons for doing so, are Chancellor Gordon Brown; Home Secretary Jack Straw; Scottish Secretary Donald Dewar; and Scottish Office Ministers Brian Wilson and Sam Galbraith. Ann Taylor, leader of the House of Commons, will also attend, but will pay her own way.
North Lanarkshire and the former Motherwell District Council have been at the centre of a series of claims of ''junket'' trips abroad in recent years. Previous trips have included visits to Belgium, Germany and France.
Councillors justified one visit to a Bavarian trade fair by saying it would boost businesses in North Lanarkshire. But no businessmen or company chiefs were invited.
A huge demand for tickets is likely to mean Scottish fans will make up only about 7000 of the 80,000 capacity for the opening game. The official SFA Travel Club alone has around 14,000 members, meaning at least half of all ''official'' Scotland fans will not be able to attend.
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