Why the next Commonwealth Games is in doubt  

Welcome to Tuesday’s Early Edition from i.

Since they began in 1930, the only thing to ever stop the Commonwealth Games from going ahead was global conflict. The sporting event has been protested, boycotted and beset by political tensions, but only ever cancelled due to the turmoil brought by the Second World War. However, today it faces a more unusual problem. Overnight, the premier of the Australian state Victoria, where the 2026 games were due to be held, announced his government would be better off spending the money on public infrastructure such as affordable housing, instead of a “12-day sporting event”, and withdrew from hosting it. The Commonwealth Games Federation says it is “hugely disappointed” and taken aback at the bombshell decision. Sporting bodies have been upset, and now many are looking to other cities for last minute offers to host it. Will it still go ahead? And what’s going on? We will take a look after the headlines.

Today’s news, and why it matters

The majority of Britons would vote to rejoin the European Union in a major shift in opinion against Brexit seven years after the referendum vote, new polling shows. A survey of adults by YouGov shows that 51 per cent of people would vote to re-enter the EU, the highest the pollster has recorded since the 2016 referendum.

Long-awaited advice to schools on how they should handle transgender children has been delayed after Cabinet splits, i understands. Ministers promised the guidance would be published by the end of the current term and it was expected to appear several weeks ago, but it is now unclear whether it will be published before the end of this week.

A new drug hailed as a “turning point in the fight against Alzheimer’s” after it was found to slow the progression of the disease could be available on the NHS within 18 months. Donanemab was found to slow “clinical decline” by up to 35 per cent, meaning that people with the disease could still go about performing day-to-day tasks including shopping, housekeeping, managing finances and taking medication.

Sir Keir Starmer is on a collision course with senior members of his Shadow Cabinet over his controversial decision to backtrack on plans to scrap the two-child benefit cap. The Labour leader is set to clash with frustrated colleagues at the meeting of the Shadow Cabinet on Tuesday, i understands, with senior members angry at the leadership decision to rule out the policy.

The Prime Minister could be urged to appoint a Cabinet minister for pandemics and other national emergencies as part of the first set of recommendations by the Covid inquiry. Questions by counsel to the inquiry, KCs Hugo Keith and Kate Blackwell, suggest the inquiry chair will call for a major shake-up of the way governments plan for crises and serious virus outbreaks.

British travellers are cancelling summer holiday plans or planning to take their vacation indoors to avoid the sweltering heat engulfing parts of Europe. Areas in Italy, Sardinia, Spain and Greece have been hit by a blistering heatwave in the past week, with more sky-high temperatures forecast for the next few days.

Part of a street in Prestwich, Greater Manchester, has been swallowed up by a sinkhole measuring at least 6 metres wide. A number of wheelie bins have already fallen victim to the crater, which is believed to have been caused by a collapsed sewer.

Three key questions on the Commonwealth Games:

Why did the Victorian government pull out? The cost of hosting the 2026 games was on track to hit up to $7bn (£3.6bn), a figure that the Australian state’s leader said it could not afford. In a press conference at 9.30am Melbourne time, Victorian premier, Daniel Andrews, said: “I will not take money out of hospitals and schools in order to fund an event that is three times the cost as estimated and budgeted for last year.” The original budget for the games was estimated to be around $2.6bn (£1.3 billion). Mr Andrews said the amount was “twice the estimated economic benefit the games would bring our state”, and said they would instead “build at least 1,300 new social and affordable housing homes in regional Victoria”. He said: “I’ve made a lot of difficult decisions in this job, this is not one of them. We don’t just make popular decisions, we do what’s right and it would simply be wrong.” Australia’s federal government had not included any funding for the 2026 games in its most recent budget in May. However, Mr Andrews said that had “absolutely” nothing to do with his decision today. He also said “the cost-benefit ratio does not stack up” when asked if he could instead move the games from regional Victoria as per the original plans, to the state’s capital, Melbourne.

What’s the response been? The Commonwealth Games Federation said it was ”hugely disappointed” and taken aback at the sudden decision. In a statement the body said it was given only eight hours’ notice of the decision. It said: “Since awarding Victoria the games, the government has made decisions to include more sports and an additional regional hub, and changed plans for venues, all of which have added considerable expense, often against the advice of the Commonwealth Games Federation and Commonwealth Games Australia. We are disappointed that we were only given eight hours’ notice and that no consideration was given to discussing the situation to jointly find solutions prior to this decision being reached by the government. Up until this point, the government had advised that sufficient funding was available to deliver the Victoria 2026 Commonwealth Games.” Australian sporting bodies have also condemned the decision.

Can it still go ahead? So far a number of other Australian states, including Queensland, Western Australia and Tasmania, have all ruled themselves out of hosting the games. Many had looked to Sydney, which hosted the Olympic Games in 2000, as an option, but the leader of New South Wales has already given it the thumbs down. “We’re not bidding for the Commonwealth Games and we’re not going to take them on,” premier Chris Minns said. And one of the reasons he listed is not dissimilar to why Victoria has pulled out. “We’ve also got unprecedented debt in the state,” Mr Minns said, “and I’m not going to commit to a massive project … I’m not confident that we can complete given the (huge pressure) the government and the people of New South Wales are already facing.” It is still possible that the games could go ahead. Birmingham stepped in to rescue the 2022 event after Durban, in South Africa, failed to meet deadlines to host it.

Around the world

 People have been evacuated from tourist resorts in Greece after wildfires fanned by strong winds engulfed homes amid a weeks-long heatwave in the region. The fire broke out in the village of Kouvaras, about 20 miles south of the Greek capital Athens, on Monday and rapidly spread to nearby settlements after weeks of dry conditions and extreme temperatures of more than 40°C.

Ukraine’s attack on the Kerch bridge hurts Putin – in both a strategic and personal way. The Russian president is so proud of the bridge that he made a personal appearance to mark the re-opening of its road section, driving himself across it in a Mercedes, writes Michael Day.

Millions of US military emails have been mistakenly sent to Mali through a “typo leak” that may have exposed highly sensitive information, the FT reports. The leak is said to include diplomatic documents, tax returns, passwords and the travel details of top officers.

Family members of Democratic presidential hopeful Robert Kennedy Jr have blasted his “deplorable” claim that Covid was engineered to target some ethnic groups and spare others. “I STRONGLY condemn my brother’s deplorable and untruthful remarks last week about Covid being engineered for ethnic targeting,” his sister Kerry Kennedy, wrote on social media.

 Watch out for…

 the Illegal Migration Bill, which is expected to become law after the Government crushed a final series of challenges 

 Thoughts for the day

 Boris Johnson’s 40 ‘new’ hospitals pledge was always dodgy – especially with NHS understaffing. A shiny new exterior is no substitute for properly manned facilities, argues Paul Waugh.

Abolishing inheritance tax is just another Tory attempt to protect privilege. Amassing wealth is neither an expression of love nor virtue, says Andrew Fisher.

Heatwaves mean sunbathing to a crisp is over for British tourists, whether we like it or not. It requires fortitude to enjoy the pool and the paella when you can smell forests dying nearby, writes Colin Drury.

 Culture Break

 Candice Carty-Williams: ‘I was nervous about the responsibility of having a black show on primetime BBC’. “I understand the culture we’re in. I can see where things are gonna sit, and how things are going to play out,” she tells Ruchira Sharma.

The Big Read

 Our 17-year-old daughter is addicted to her phone, it is ruining her life and making all of us miserable. When my daughter is away from her phone, it makes her cry. Being with her phone makes her cry. As a parent, I can only sit by and watch what the phone will inflict next.

Sport

 Man Utd deserve the blame in Harry Maguire’s fall from grace. Maguire’s own form became a symbol; where did it all go wrong, asks Daniel Storey.

 Something to brighten your day

 I tried making the male crop top happen in rural Cambridgeshire. It was a big mistake. “It feels oddly provocative, like I am deliberately trying to draw people’s eyes exactly towards a part of my body that arguably doesn’t need too many eyes on it,” writes Mike Rampton.