Mayor Andy Burnham explains why he's backing calls to bring Olympics to Manchester and Liverpool

Speaking on BBC radio this morning, Andy Burnham said ‘it’s a good idea’ for the two North West cities to bid for the games instead of London.

The idea was first proposed by the Heseltine Institute, a famous public policy research centre in Liverpool, who claim hosting the games in the North West could be ‘a unifying flagship program’ for the two cities and ‘levelling up made real’.

“I like it,” Mr Burnham told Mike Sweeny while in the mayoral hotseat on Thursday, November 20. “I hear London is asking for another go. But definitely not, the country couldn’t give London a second Olympics.

“You look at our facilities and they’re second-to-none across the North West. If the government really wants to rebalance the country, this could be the way to do it. I’m in.”

Mr Burnham acknowledged the role major sporting events have on bringing investment into the city. The 2002 Commonwealth Games brought an estimated £22m of investment into the city.

It was a ‘big part of Greater Manchester’s regeneration story’, he said. The 2012 Olympics brought an economic boost of around £14bn to London with huge infrastructure projects that completely transformed areas like Stratford into sporting destinations.

But the mayor gave the caveat that Manchester would require ‘big investment into infrastructure’ to make sure the transport system could handle the international swarm of sports fans descending onto the city.

“And we wouldn’t want another West Ham situation,” he added. “I don’t think they were too pleased about having an athletics stadium turned into a football stadium.”

Hosts for the Olympics are usually decided between seven and 14 years before they take place, to give cities time to prepare. The competition is heating up, with Germany, Poland, and South Africa already preparing their bids for the games too.