The Greater London Authority made clear their intention to host the event last month as the Mayor's Olympic legacy adviser Neale Coleman revealed the city is looking to use the facilities in place from the Olympics and Paralympics last year to bid for the 2022 Commonwealth Games.

Commonwealth Games England (CGE) have welcomed the move as a positive step and high-profile support from the Culture Secretary means the bid appears close to getting the green light from Government.

"I think we have been incredibly successful at securing a whole range of international sporting events as a result of the huge success of the 2012 Olympic and Paralympics," Miller told insidethegames.

"My colleague [Sports Minister] Hugh Robertson is absolutely focused in on making sure we continue to grow that list of blue-ribbon events.

"We know we can stage we can stage great athletics and other sporting events in this country and we will continue to look at other opportunities to bring more sporting competitions such as that [the 2022 Commonwealth Games] to this country."


As well as London, both Birmingham and Sheffield have expressed an interest in bidding for the 2022 Commonwealth Games in England but the CGE Board would most likely opt for a bid from the capital give the majority of the technical infrastructure from the Olympics and Paralympics.

London last hosted the Commonwealth Games in 1934 when they were still known as the British Empire Games.

London only secured that event because the original choice, Johannesburg, was stripped of the event amid concerns of concerns about the way South Africa would treat black and Asian athletes.

The last time the competition was stage in England was in 2002 in Manchester while the UK will host the Commonwealth Games next year with Glasgow 2014.

The Gold Coast in Australia will then stage the 2018 edition of the event.

The deadline for Commonwealth Games Associations/Candidate Cities to notify Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) of intention to bid for 2022 is expected to come in around March or April next year with the winner to be announced at the end of 2015.

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