UK prime minister promises to pay full cost of Manchester terror attack

Theresa May had been criticised after the government's promises fell short of the anticipated £28m cost of the suicide attack

Tributes left in Manchester after the May 22 suicide bomb attack. Ben Stansall / AFP

The UK government backtracked on Sunday and confirmed it would pay local authorities the full cost of coping with a suicide bomb attack on in Manchester that killed 22 people.

Theresa May, the prime minister, faced criticisms after an initial offer fell millions of pounds short of what city officials said was needed to cover the cost of the emergency response and an inquiry.

Authorities said the total cost could reach £28 million, with the government pledging only an immediate £12 million. The city’s mayor, Andy Burnham, said that the shortfall could mean services being cut in Manchester.

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Mrs May told the Manchester Evening News: “Be in no doubt, Manchester will get the financial support it needs - and if that costs £28m, as Andy Burnham has estimated, then that is what we will make available.”

Salman Abedi detonated a rucksack bomb on May 22 as families streamed into a foyer towards the end of a concert by US pop star Ariana Grande. Hundreds more were injured.

The attack on Manchester Arena was one of five terrorist attacks in Britain in 2017 that killed 36 people. Four were carried out by Islamist militants and one was an apparent revenge attack outside a mosque.