Glasgow fire: John Swinney opens door to 'multi-million' recovery fund to safeguard 'national asset'

The First Minister, who visited the scene of the blaze on Monday, branded the fire that broke out on in a vape shop on Sunday night, a “colossal incident”.

All train services from Glasgow Central Station were cancelled on Monday, with the station to remain closed on Tuesday. Several city centre streets have been closed off as a result of the fire, which led to a building, adjoining the station, on Union Street partially collapsing.

At its height, point 18 fire appliances and specialist resources were called to the scene.

READ MORE: Watch: Huge fire near Glasgow Central station rips through building as firefighters battle blaze

Mr Swinney told journalists that “thankfully we’ve had no serious injuries reported”, adding that “the incident appears to be contained”.

The First Minister confirmed reports that the fire “started in a vaping shop” on Union Street.

He added: “I’m deeply grateful to the emergency services for handling it in the way that they had.

“From what I’m being briefed about so far, the incident appears to be contained and thankfully we’ve had no serious injuries reported.

“But there will be enormous disruption to the city centre, enormous disruption to the economy, disruption to members of the public.

“I recognise that there will be significant additional unexpected costs for the city in recovery from this incident and the government will be a constructive supporter of that effort.

“I recognise that there will be additional financial support that will have to be given to Glasgow to help this recovery.”

READ MORE: Glasgow fire Live updates: Travel chaos after huge fire near Glasgow Central

Asked if the Scottish Government would set up a similar recovery fund that was established in the wake of the second Glasgow School of Art Fire, and allocated a pot of £5 million to impacted businesses, Mr Swinney said it was “very much” an option being looked at.

He added: “We’re in the early days with the recovery.

“There is going to be a bigger recovery operation to be undertaken. It will affect the city centre and the government will very much be a part of that.

“I don’t want to be prescriptive at this stage because I don’t know what the extent of the disruption will be and what the circumstances will be but we’ll engage to address that with Glasgow City Council.

“But I give that commitment at the outlet that I recognise there’s going to have to be additional financial support for Glasgow to recover from that.”

Asked if any fund will likely be in the millions of pounds, Mr Swinney said: “I can’t image it won’t.”

Leader of Glasgow City Council, Susan Aitken, said she had held “very early conversations” with Mr Swinney over Scottish government support.

She said: “The First Minister reached out to me first thing this morning, and I'm really pleased that he has proactively said that the Scottish government will help, that they're not going to leave it up to Glasgow to deal with this on their own.

“I think that's incredibly helpful. I completely agree this has to be a national effort.

“Glasgow City Centre is a national asset.

“We need to work collectively over the coming days and weeks to understand what the costs are going to be, where they lie.”

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Ms Aitken warned that the recovery “is going to be incredibly complex”.

She added: “It's still a live major incident.

“It won't be until the firefighters have finished their work that our building control teams from the council, for example, will be able to get in there. So there's a lot of work to be done before we can start putting figures on it.”

Pressed by The Scotsman over Glasgow losing dozens of historic buildings to fires over the last few years, Mr Swinney said that the most recent event was a blaze that “has spread to other buildings”, adding “that in itself is of concern”.

He added: “The condition of historic buildings and in many cases, empty buildings in the city centre.

“I think we’ve got to look carefully at what solutions might well be in place. Because some of these buildings will not have had a use for some time.

“Putting them into active use is a priority. We’ve got to find the mechanisms to enable that to be the case, but that’s very much the discussions we’ll take forward with Glasgow City Council.”

The First Minister said his government was open to changing regulations on vape shops given where the fire started.

“If the fire did start in the vape shop, which is what I’ve certainly been briefed was the case, then it will raise issues abut the safety of such premises and it’s vital that we examine all of those issue with an open mind,” he said.

“I give the public an assurance the government will do exactly that and to determine whether there are safety issues that have to be addressed.

“Having seen some of the early moments of the fire and seeing and hearing the explosions, I can understand why there is deep public unease about these issues, so those issues will have to be considered in open detail.”

Downing Street has paid tribute to the bravery of firefighters who dealt with the “devastating” blaze.

The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: “Clearly, this has been a devastating incident for Glasgow, the loss of historic buildings that have dominated the city centre for so long. Our thoughts also go to those who have lost businesses and livelihoods.

“In this event, the emergency services were quick to respond to the situation. Scottish Fire and Rescue deployed 18 appliances and specialist resources at the height of the incident. We thank them and for their efforts and bravery.

“The response has now been scaled back, but emergency services remain on the scene. The advice for the public is to continue to avoid the area, and for those impacted by travel disruption to keep across updates from National Rail.”

No 10 would not say whether Sir Keir Starmer plans to visit Glasgow following the fire, adding that his travel plans would be set out in the “usual way”.