UK sports minister Richard Caborn has said that the government would be willing to back an English bid for the 2018 football World Cup.

Speaking on BBC Radio Four’s Today programme, Caborn, when asked whether the government would support a bid, said: “Absolutely. I have no doubt.”

Whitehall is currently carrying out a feasibility study into whether a bid should be launched but Gordon Brown, who is expected to take over from Tony Blair as Prime Minister, said on GMTV in November 2005: “It will be 50 years since we won the World Cup and held it last. It’s about time it came back to us.”

The BBC reported that Lord Coe, chair of the London 2012 organising committee, has indicated his willingness to assist the FA in its bid.

The 2010 World Cup will be held in South Africa and the 2014 tournament is expected to go to a South American country.