London Mayor Sir Sadiq Khan has criticised the government’s plans for a possible north of England bid for the Olympics and Paralympics, saying that excluding the capital city would be “a missed opportunity”.
Ministers have commissioned UK Sport to conduct an “initial strategic assessment” into whether the region could host the Games in the 2040s.
The funding agency would examine the potential cost of staging the event for the first time since London 2012, as well as socio-economic benefit and any bid’s chance of success.
Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy said the government was “starting the firing gun on the project.”
But in response, a spokesperson for Sir Sadiq said: “London is the sporting capital of the world and the Mayor has openly expressed his ambition for the capital to be part of a future Olympic and Paralympic Games.
“Sadiq believes that a potential country-wide bid, using all the assets we have in the UK, including the publicly-owned London Stadium would deliver the very best possible Olympics.
“Using London’s existing world-class infrastructure would help deliver the greenest and most sustainable Games, as well as unlocking huge economic growth both here in London and around the country.
“Not including the capital in an Olympics bid would be a missed opportunity, and mean our country fails to unleash the full benefits of a UK-wide games.”
Earlier, Nandy said, “For too long we have been told the Olympics is simply too big and too important to be hosted in the north.
“Not any more. It’s time the Olympics came north and we showed what we can offer to the world.
“We know that we can pull off the most incredible, not just bid, but Olympics. So we’re kick-starting that with a phase-one study about the investment, the resources, the infrastructure, the transport that we’re going to need.”
The findings of UK Sport’s study will determine whether to proceed with a more detailed “technical feasibility study”, with a final decision on any bid resting with the British Olympic Association (BOA).
