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Scotland play Holland on March 28 - but who will win?

Olympics bill creeps up £3bn to £12bn

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Published Date: 08 November 2009
By Nicholas Christian
GOVERNMENT figures for the cost of the London Olympics have seriously underestimated the final bill by almost £3 billion.
Figures released under the Freedom of Information Act show the cost to the public purse will overshoot the promised upper-limit of £9.3bn by almost a third, with an expected final bill of £12bn.

Among the extra spending items are £1.15 billion
to buy and clean up the Olympic site; £389m for "Games-specific" transport improvements to the rail network and elite sports projects.

The overspend appears to directly contradict the Olympics minister Tessa Jowell's statement to parliament last year that, "£9.325bn is the absolute limit of public money, whether it comes from the lottery, the London council taxpayer or the Exchequer."

But ministers have insisted that the 2012 Games remain on budget, though this relates to the official £9.3bn figure for venues construction, security and transport improvements

Hugh Robertson, shadow Olympics minister, said that the government's statements on the cost of the project had been "misleading": "When (ministers] talk about the Olympic budget, it is an extraordinarily misleading term. There is really a number of different budgets that go far beyond the amount quoted."

But the government defended its figures.

A spokesman for the Department of Culture, Media and Sport said: "We were always clear that there would be additional spending by other public bodies in addition to the main £9.3bn allocation." He added that some of the investment would be clawed back though land and property sales.





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  • Last Updated: 07 November 2009 7:27 PM
  • Source: Scotland On Sunday
  • Location: Scotland
  • Related Topics: London Olympics 2012
 
1

Charles Linskaill,

Edinburgh 08/11/2009 02:26:25

This is beyond all Human comprehension, and one of total, utter madness to all extremities, to even contemplate to spend £9.325bn on games, when we are in recession, and more the fact, think of all the good causes that £9.325bn, better spent, would be of so much benefit to others, less fortunate in our lives.
New Housing, Our Elderly, Our Sick, Our Poor, Our Needy, Our Distressed, The list goes on!
Olympics! forget it!, Olympic thought for others in need, now that would be worth £9.325bn, and watching!




2

Boy Wonder,

08/11/2009 07:14:02
Hands up who DIDN'T see this coming!!!
3

John S,

08/11/2009 07:35:54
William Hill believe there is every chance the the final official cost of the 2012 Olympics will top £20billion.
With the government currently insisting that the cost will be £9.35bn, Hills have opened a book on what will be the final official cost of the London Olympics as confirmed by the government, and they offer 16/1 that it will come in at under £10bn.
Hills offer 4/6 that the final cost will be between £10bn and £20bn, and quote 11/10 that it will soar to over £20bn.
Hill's spokesman Graham Sharpe said: "With several years still to go it seems highly unlikely that the government will be able to keep costs down to under £10bn and in all likelihood the costs will continue to rise significantly.
"We think there is every chance that it will eventually more than double." bettingzone 16 Jan 2009
4

drunken proffet,

Tassy 08/11/2009 07:46:04
I would vote for the Olympic Games in London. It is essential for the pride in the UK. You cannot do without it, no matter the price.
However with Global Warming and the chance that the City of London could disappear underneath the waves, I would most certainly draw a line. There are some things in life that money cannot replace.
5

Unimpressed one,

08/11/2009 10:03:32
And it still won't top the Beijing Olympics.
6

Alice Cooper,

08/11/2009 10:42:44
want to see the result of 75 years of labour mps being always voted in ,in glasgow ,watch this
they may be glaswegians ,but they are human beings and deserve better
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kls37DqxjG8&feature=fvw
7

The Former Mr. Angry,

Perth 08/11/2009 13:18:46
Almost incalculable amounts of money - for a few weeks of hop, skip and jump. Jeez it would make you greet. It won't stop there of course. Tessa Jowell may claim she's on budget but that's the PR version. Look forward to at least £18bn and probably more. What would that do for the armed forces, older people and the NHS?
8

Thrawn,

UK 08/11/2009 14:58:09
#5: I hope that they won't top the Beijing Olympics, which, had the workers been paid western wages, would have cost many billions more than the London ones will and which were a stage-managed totalitarian effort like the Berlin Olympics of 1936.

#7: quite right. The money could be better spent, and why were a few billion not invested in sporting facilities for young and old, able and disabled, across the whole of the UK instead? Simple: this was a typical New Labour, headline-grabbing, all Style and No Substance exercise.

And did Brown as Chancellor not somehow forget to include certain sums in his calculations to make the cost appear less than the one tendered?
9

danbob,

08/11/2009 15:11:08
Scottish jealousy. If Glasgow had bid and won the games it would be the best thing since sliced bread.
10

Davex,

London 08/11/2009 18:00:07
So far as I remember the original estimate was just over £2 billion but Tessa forgot a few minor items - such as VAT etc. Looks like she's forgotten a bit more - she'll need to sign a few more mortgages!

 

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