A regional daily campaigning to bring the Commonwealth Games to its patch is celebrating after the bid received official government backing.

The Birmingham Mail wants to bring the Games to Birmingham after the South African city of Durban announced it would no longer be able to host them due to financial constraints.

Birmingham has now been named as the UK’s candidate city for 2022 ahead of Liverpool, and will now go forward to face potential rival cities from Australia, Canada and Malaysia.

The Mail, whose campaigned was spearheaded by acting executive editor Graeme Brown, splashed on the news on Friday.

Said Graeme: “”We pushed hard for a Commonwealth Games bid because we thought it was important to help inject some civic ambition into the city.

“Birmingham City Council had been so weighed down with cuts and improvement panels, we felt they were possibly missing an opportunity which actually made complete sense.

“Birmingham is the sort of city that should host major global events – a city of 1.1 million people from countless different backgrounds, boasting some world-class sporting facilities.

“I’m proud of the role the Mail played in getting this moving and I am confident we’ll all be proud of the Games when they come to Birmingham – as it really is the obvious choice.”