AN ENGLAND football fan living in Scotland blamed the country’s First Minister yesterday for stoking anti-English racism after his windows were smashed because he was displaying the St George’s flag.

Amid rising fears that Scotland may be boycotted by tourists from south of the Border over Jack McConnell’s refusal to support England in the World Cup, Allan Robinson, 44, accused the First Minister of putting English people living in Scotland at risk.

Police said that they were investigating an “act of vandalism” on Mr Robinson’s home in Coatbridge, Lanarkshire, in which three windows were smashed as the opening game of the tournament got under way last Friday.

Anti-racism campaigners described the attack as “moronic”, but Mr Robinson, who is originally from Leeds and moved to Scotland five years ago, blamed the First Minister. “Me putting up a single flag . . . and my windows going through, I think it’s all to do with what Jack McConnell says.

“I was horrified by the attack. All three bedroom windows were smashed in. My girlfriend and I went down the shops and I was in my England strip. I got abuse hurled at me. I didn’t leave my house all weekend. I’m thinking it might be safer to move.”

The attack will further damage Scotland’s reputation as a welcoming and tolerant nation, already under scrutiny after the First Minister’s remarks. Asked last month whether he would be supporting England, Mr McConnell said: “No, I will not. Scotland is not there and that’s disappointing. And there are people who think that as First Minister I should automatically support England instead. But football is not about politics, so I will not be.”

The First Minister’s office denied that Mr McConnell had encouraged anti-Englishness. A spokesman refused to discuss the incident but said: “There is no place for racism in Scotland and we will do whatever we can to tackle that.” This week a group of 60 chartered surveyors from England cancelled a two-day conference at an hotel in Scotland because of Mr McConnell’s comments.

Tourism chiefs are concerned that the English may boycott Scotland after Mr McConnell’s remarks, but Visit Scotland, the tourist authority, said that, with one exception, there were no indications that this was happening.

Although Gordon Brown has said that he will be supporting England along with “two thirds of Scots”, most of the 400,000 English people living north of the Border will find that statistic hard to believe.

Sports shops across Scotland have struggled to cope with demand for Trinidad & Tobago strips and Jason Scotland, the Trinidadian striker who plays for St Johnstone, the Scottish first division team, has become a cult hero with a song in his name sweeping to the top of the charts.

Some bars are offering free drinks whenever England concede a goal and a sports shop in Angus is giving free golf balls to anybody wearing the strips of England’s opponents.

The Scottish Commission for Racial Equality has cautioned against anti-English racism, while schoolchildren who make anti-English remarks in class have been threatened with suspension. The letters pages of newspapers have been inun- dated with complaints about England’s World Cup “hysteria”and the endless coverage of Wayne Rooney’s foot.