The organizers expect to welcome at least that many people next week.

CNN: Mark Milian,

But pressure group the Taxpayers' Alliance (TPA) said while many people would be rightly proud to welcome the Tour de France to Yorkshire, they would be left wondering why so much council tax was needed to make it happen.

BBC: Is Yorkshire's price for Le Tour too high?

Many poor people who live in or near forests may actually welcome the opportunity to farm on deforested land and bureaucrats in distant capitals may think that unsustainable and low-revenue-yielding forest operations are politically preferable to what they perceive as expensive alternatives.

ECONOMIST: Conflict of opinion

Many people welcome the principle of choice, but are frankly sceptical that it will ever be given to them.

BBC: NEWS | UK | UK Politics | In full: George Osborne speech