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Wembley Stadium plan hit by new delay

Nigel Morris,Political Correspondent
Tuesday 21 May 2002 00:00 BST
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Tessa Jowell is preparing to announce another delay to plans to build a national football stadium at Wembley.

The Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport will appeal to MPs for patience as the Football Association struggles to finalise a £400m package for the project. Ms Jowell faced derision earlier this month as she announced that the FA had not met its 30 April deadline, and promised to update MPs before the Commons rises on Thursday.

A government source said there was no prospect of the FA concluding negotiations with the German bank Westdeutsche Landesbank this week. "There are some 25 contracts that need to be gone through. They will take as long as they need to do that."

Further delay will encourage West Midland MPs to renew calls for the project to be switched to Birmingham.

Tim Yeo, the shadow culture secretary, said: "There is no such thing as a deadline that means a deadline in this saga."

But in a letter to London MPs, the London mayor, Ken Livingstone, said: "Independent reports have shown that... the business case is strong and the stadium should proceed. It would be a tragedy for sport and for London if self-interested interventions were to wreck the project at the final hurdle."

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