Minister attacks ‘extraordinary’ Tour bid failure

THE Sports Minister has delivered a withering attack on Yorkshire’s successful Tour de France bid for its failure to first set out how the event’s policing costs would be funded.
Yorkshire 'Tour Makers' in readiness for the forthcoming Yorkshire Grand DepartYorkshire 'Tour Makers' in readiness for the forthcoming Yorkshire Grand Depart
Yorkshire 'Tour Makers' in readiness for the forthcoming Yorkshire Grand Depart

Hugh Robertson told MPs it was “pretty extraordinary” that tourism agency Welcome to Yorkshire went ahead with its bid to bring one of the world’s biggest sports events to the region without working out first how event security would be paid for.

The Yorkshire Post revealed yesterday that North Yorkshire police and crime commissioner (PCC) Julia Mulligan had written an angry letter to the agency’s chief executive, Gary Verity, criticising the “lack of clarity” over the likely policing costs of the Grand Depart.

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Tory PCC Ms Mulligan said she was “very disappointed” the Yorkshire bid had not included “realistic policing costs”, and warned her force will be left with a bill of more than half a million pounds.

After months of wrangling, an all-encompassing £21m budget was agreed for the event back in July, to be administered by Yorkshire’s veteran sports executive Sir Rodney Walker.

Speaking in the Commons yesterday, Mr Robertson said he expected all security costs to be met from the £11m portion of that fund which was contributed by Yorkshire’s local councils, and took a thinly-veiled swipe at the bid team which secured the event.

“When we drew up the budget that Sir Rodney Walker now oversees, it was clear the local security costs were to be met from the £11 million that will be raised by Yorkshire, not the £10 million raised by the Government,” he said.

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“I just say, as a gentle point of reference, that if there is controversy about this matter now - I do not know whether there is in Yorkshire – that it is pretty extraordinary to have bid for an event without working out how the security is to be paid for.”

The Tory Minister’s attack is just the latest chapter in the long-running feud between Whitehall and the Yorkshire-based team which secured the Grand Depart of next year’s Tour de France.

The Government, via its sports funding and tourism agencies UK Sport and Visit Britain, had previously backed a Scottish bid which would have seen the cycle race depart from Edinburgh.

But Welcome to Yorkshire pushed ahead with its own rival bid, and pulled off a remarkable coup in January when it was unveiled as the winner.

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The scale of the ensuing mistrust between the two sides was laid bare last month when the Yorkshire Post revealed a Whitehall plot to remove Yorkshire’s name from the Tour and re-brand it as an all-England event.

The minutes also showed UK Sport officials complaining they had “little confidence” in Welcome to Yorkshire and considered the event to be “very high risk”.

Mr Robertson’s latest statement makes clear the Government’s ongoing exasperation at Welcome to Yorkshire’s uncosted bid. The agency, for its part, privately suspects Mr Robertson and his department of sour grapes.

Sir Rodney Walker said on Wednesday that the cost of policing was “one of the issues we know we still have to address”.

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“We do have a view that some people think the policing costs are likely to be more than we believe they need to be,” he said. “Discussions are ongoing.

“It is far too early to be concerned about this, but it is an issue about which I am aware. Within the remit from Government, there is no prospect of me being able to make any contribution from the £10m I have been given.”