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Geraint Hughes
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The Government has authorized UK Sport to assess a bid for Northern England to host the Olympic and Paralympic Games in the 2040s; The Games have been held three times in London but never elsewhere in the UK; Lisa Nandy MP says the North is too prominent on the global stage
Last updated: 17/05/26 12:45am
A bid to host the Olympic and Paralympic Games in northern England in the 2040s is under consideration.
A bid to host the Olympic and Paralympic Games in northern England in the 2040s is being planned after the government approved UK Sport to launch a feasibility study.
London last hosted the Games in 2012, but any UK bid in the 2040s would be for the multi-city North of England Olympic and Paralympic Games.
London has hosted the Olympics three times – 1908, 1948 and 2012 – but nowhere else in the UK. Manchester unsuccessfully bid to host the Games in 1996 and 2000 while Sydney won the right to host the 2000 Olympics when the city came third in the bidding process.
A potential 2040 bid in the north of England comes as the current UK government believes any northern bid is doomed to fail as only London is seen as big enough and important enough to host the ‘Greatest Show on Earth’.
Kiley Hodgkinson celebrates gold in a new championship record at the World Athletics Indoor Championships (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)
Secretary for Culture, Media and Sports Lisa Nandy MP informed this information Sky Sports: “The North of England has long shown an amazing ability to host some of the best sporting events not just in the country but in the world.
“We’ve produced world-class athletes, people like Keely Hodgkinson and many others, but we’ve been told time and time again that when it comes to the Olympic Games, it’s not for us.
“We don’t accept that as a government, so today we fire the starting gun on an Olympic bid for northern England in the 2040s.
“We think it’s long overdue and it’s the North’s turn.
“This is a vote of confidence from us in the North of England. We have seen what London 2012 can do for the country and we believe it is time to bring the Olympics home to the North of England and show the world what we can do.”
The London 2012 Olympic Games were last held in Britain
‘We can put on one of the most incredible Olympics the world has ever seen’
While traditionally an Olympics and Paralympics are hosted by a single city, plans for a possible fourth Games on UK soil are not in one city, but several.
“Manchester is a huge asset to us, but we believe there is potential to share the Olympic Games at other sites as well,” said Nandy, who described Everton’s new Hill Dickinson Stadium as a “world-class facility”.
Nandy added: “We’re looking at multi-city sites across the north of England as part of our bid and obviously we’re talking to all the key players in that, from the British Olympic Association, but also the IOC and others about it.
“We’ve seen in other fields like soccer that multi-city events can be not only really, really positive for fans, but a huge boost in many parts of this country and other countries around the world.
We already have great infrastructure across the North of England. I was recently at the new Everton Stadium, which is a world-class facility. (There’s) regeneration going on in Leeds at the moment. The North East has a lot of potential which has been overlooked for too long.
Lisa Nandy
Everton’s Hill Dickinson Stadium has a capacity of around 53,000
“When we host Euro 2028 we will welcome people from all over the world to different sites around the world and similarly when the World Cup starts it will be across the US, Mexico and Canada so we know it can be done.
“We think that by working with the whole North of England who are already coming together and in many cases working as a team, bringing together the mayors of all the major city regions we think we can put on one of the most incredible Olympics the world has ever seen.”
Given that the current Labor government has endured some of the worst local election results in their history, it is fair to ask whether this ‘good news’ story is nothing more than a ploy to divert attention from the government’s problems.
This is a claim Nandi rejects. “I want to be really clear with you — we want to do this as a government,” he said.
“It’s not us saying we’ll take a look and see if we think it’s possible, we’re looking at how we can do it, not whether we can do it.
“There is discussion about what we need, what infrastructure we need, what changes to planning laws, what public transport, what investment and funding and resources we need and what political will and support we need.
“We’re asking the public to come and play their part. We want people to get behind this bid so that when we go to launch we’re ready and we can show the world that we stand united as a country, in the north of England, believing that it’s time for the Olympics to come home and knowing that we can pull off a really spectacular bid and the O40.”
“We will not hesitate to pull all the levers we can to help people with the cost of living in these difficult times, but people deserve the right to be able to enjoy great sporting moments and great sporting achievements.”
