The prime minister has pledged to cover the entire bill run up by the emergency services and local authorities in the aftermath of the Manchester Arena terrorist bomb in May, which killed 22 people and injured more than 500, despite previously saying that only "reasonable costs" would be met.
Theresa May has promised to provide necessary financial support to the city's police, who carried out a vast investigation to find accomplices of the suicide bomber Salman Abedi, and hospitals and councils, which cared for the injured and their families.
Last week May pledged to pay just £12 million of an estimated £17 million bill – which could reach as a high as £28 million once a public inquiry and victims' inquests have taken place. Greater Manchester's elected mayor, Andy Burnham, called the offer "not good enough."
But on Sunday May told the Manchester Evening News: "Be in no doubt, Manchester will get the financial support it needs – and if that costs £28 million, as Andy Burnham has estimated, then that is what we will make available.”
A Cabinet Office task force has now been set up to administer the government's financial response, the MEN reported.
May said: "I promised in the wake of the appalling atrocity this Government would do all it could to help victims recover and the city to heal. I repeat that commitment today.
“Where your public services have had to bear, or will bear, unexpected and exceptional costs in coping with this terrible attack, these will be met by the Government. The process of making those payments is on-going and I understand the frustration felt at the pace of delivery. So I have taken steps to speed up our response.”
Previously, the government had told Manchester's authorities only "reasonable" costs would be considered, which Burnham said was at odds with a promise immediately after the attack that all costs would be met.