A Manchester MP has hit out at the news that taxpayers will have to pay a proportion of the funding if England win the rights to the 2018 World Cup bid.

Manchester City Council has estimated that they would have to set aside £25 – 30 million to cover the costs of the event coming to Manchester. On the plus side, they look set to rake in over £100 million in economic benefits if Old Trafford and Eastlands are part of the 2018 bid.

Graham Stringer, MP for Blackley, said: “It’s ludicrous. The public sector should not have to pay anything. “I met the chief executive of the bid (Andy Anson)and told him it was completely and totally absurd. Asking the public sector to pay when they will make a fortune beggars belief.”

The Countdown team backed the Manchester bid!

However, Sir Richard Leese, leader of Manchester City Council, said: “If the World Cup does come to Manchester it will be a guaranteed win for the city. Analysis shows that when Munich hosted games in the 2006 World Cup some £80 million poured into its economy. We would expect the benefits here to be even greater, not least taking into account inflation and the fact that we would hope to host more games than Munich did.”

The England 2018 World Cup bid has split the opinion of councillors and citizens in the country with a proportion estimating that the campaign is not financially viable although the majority are backing the bid. These outbursts from various authority figures around the country are likely to continue in the lead up to FIFA’s final decision in December 2010.