"Mayor deceiving Londoners over Olympic costs" - DOOCEY

12.57.01pm GMT Thu 15th Mar 2007

London Assembly Liberal Democrat Olympics spokesperson and Chair of the London Assembly's committee responsible for monitoring the Games, Dee Doocey, today accused Mayor Ken Livingstone of "deceiving" Londoners after Culture minister Tessa Jowell announced in the House of Commons that the construction costs of the 2012 Olympic Games was set to rise to £5.3billion.

Dee Doocey said:

"Ever since London won the bid in 2005, Mayor Livingstone has assured London that the costs of the games were under control and that speculation over inflating costs was wrong. Londoners know now that the Mayor was deceiving them, as he was other strong supporters of the Games like me, by saying that costs were under control.

"We repeatedly told the Mayor that he needed to get a grip on the escalating expenditure. The figures released today show that the Mayor and the Government have seriously underestimated the cost of the Games and have grossly mismanaged the first stage of Olympic preparations."

"In today's announcement there is no evidence to show that the Olympic Board has got its figures right this time. We welcome the fact that all figures will be independently reviewed by the National Audit Office in order to restore public confidence in the Games financial management.

Ken Livingstone should now step aside from the Olympic Board and be replaced with a person who understands big projects and can control expenditure, to ensure that London has an Olympic Games it can be proud of in 2012."