British Cycling report due after the General Election

The long-awaited independent report into allegations of bullying within the Great Britain cycling team is finished and will be published in the week after the June 8 General Election.

Co-commissioned by British Cycling and funding agency UK Sport, the report has been prepared by a five-strong panel which includes former England rugby coach Stuart Lancaster and is led by Annamarie Phelps, the chair of British Rowing.

The panel was set up a year ago in response to denied claims made by former GB track sprinter Jess Varnish and other members of Britain's most successful Olympic and Paralympic squad.

The first draft of their report, which was handed to the boards of British Cycling and UK Sport in December, was leaked to the Daily Mail in March and it was an explosive read as it backed those claims and strongly criticised the Manchester-based sport's leadership.

But even before that draft was leaked, there had been considerable unease about its findings at both British Cycling and UK Sport, which has given the sport huge sums of public money over the last decade because of its proven ability to win medals.

This unease led to Phelps being asked to publish much more than she was originally asked to reveal publicly, which meant going through Maxwellisation, a legal process which involves giving individuals criticised in a report the right of reply before it is published.

The original plan was to publish the report last autumn but that deadline quickly slipped when it became clear how many people wanted to talk to Phelps' panel.

Suggested publication dates of March and April were then missed as the Maxwellisation process ground on, only for Prime Minister Theresa May to then call a snap election which meant publication would be delayed again because of purdah, the convention that prevents government-related announcements before elections.

Press Association Sport understands, however, the report is finished but has not yet been sent to British Cycling and UK Sport, who will make the final decision on when to publish, although all parties are aiming to press 'send' in the week commencing June 12.