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MP: Eurovision song contest is a joke

15/05/2007

An MP has called for the Eurovision song contest to be radically overhauled to avoid it denting European relations.

The annual celebration of music from all European nations has long been accused of being more a popularity contest than a musical one.

And such sentiments only increased this year with another display of neighbourly voting between countries with traditionally good relations.

The United Kingdom's entry, Flying the Flag by Scooch, gained only 19 points – 12 of which came from Malta – despite many tipping it as the sort of schmaltzy glam that normally goes down a treat with voters.

Eventual winners Serbia, on the other hand, received maximum points from six of its Balkan neighbours to see it past second-placed Ukraine, which also benefited from friendly voting from its ex-Soviet bloc neighbours.

As a result Liberal Democrat MP Richard Younger-Ross has called for action to prevent the contest from becoming a farce.

He has penned an early-day motion to parliament arguing "that this house believes that voting in the Eurovision Song Contest has become a joke as countries vote largely on narrow nationalistic grounds or for neighbour countries rather than the quality of the song".

He added that "such narrow voting is harmful to the relationship between the peoples of Europe" and urged the BBC, which screens the show each year, to exert the pressure that its financial weight allows.

Britain, France, Germany and Ireland – who all finished in the lower echelons of the competition this year – provide most of the funding for the show because of their greater viewer numbers.

According to the Commons motion, which has also been signed by Liberal Democrat Colin Breed and Labour MPs John Robertson and David Drew, the BBC should "insist on changes to the voting system or to withdraw from the contest".

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