"£45M UNACCOUNTED FOR IN PARALYMPICS FUNDING" - DOOCEY

5.38.35pm BST (GMT +0100) Wed 21st Jun 2006

The Mayor of London was forced to admit today that he did not know where £45m of funding for the Paralympic Games would be sourced. Liberal Democrat Olympics Spokesperson in the London Assembly, Dee Doocey, pressed the Mayor at Mayor's Question Time today after discovering the funding black hole.

The bid document put the cost of running of the Paralympics at £90m, half of which is due to come from the public sector funding package, and half raised through private sponsorship deals, merchandising, and ticket sales.

However, it has emerged that the £45m to be sourced from public funding, is yet unaccounted for.

Dee Doocey AM, said:

"It's all good and well pretending the money is buried in the public funding package, but we need crystal clear answers about exactly which pot that £45m is coming from.'

'David Higgins was categorical last week that the ODA funding package for building the Games was £2.075bn. This leaves a black hole of £45m to run the Paralympic Games. The government established, at the tax payer's expense, two very distinct bodies: one to deliver the structures for the Games or as it were 'building the theatre', and another to run the Games and 'put on the show'. To blur the boundaries at this stage and pretend that they are one and the same thing, with interchangeable budgets is deeply worrying'.

'The Mayor is the first to make sweeping statements about disability and inclusiveness but when I questioned him on where the money for the Paralympics was coming from, he admitted he simply did not know.'

'Whatever the outcome, London tax payers cannot be expected to fork out another £45m on top of the £625m they are already paying for the Olympics. The funding package is already unfair on Londoners and I am determined they will not pay a penny more" ENDS