Another £9.3bn down the drain? Ministers told 2012 Olympics 'will bring
little benefit to Britain'
By Daniel Bates
Last updated at 12:57 PM on 02nd December 2008
Ministers ploughed ahead with the 2012 Olympic bid despite their own
experts warning it would bring little economic or social benefit, it
emerged last night.
A strategy document signed off in December 2002 by Tony Blair found the
main improvement to hosting The Games would be cheering the nation up.
None of the much-vaunted economic returns or increases in people playing
sport would come about, the document by leading economists and civil
servants found.
The cost to the taxpayer of the 2012 Games has more than tripled from
£2.4 billion during the bid to £9.3 billion today. Above is an artist's
The findings, which were quietly buried by the government, will fuel the
debate about whether the Olympics will produce a fitter nation or just
suck money away from community sport and charitable causes funded by the
lottery.
The cost to the taxpayer has more than tripled from £2.4 billion during
the bid to £9.3 billion today.
MPs have already called for an 'Austerity Games' similar to when London
last staged the event in 1948 - with no new stadiums, no athletes'
village and barely enough food for competitors.
The 'Game Plan' study was commissioned by the Department for Culture,
Media and Sport and the Prime Minister's strategy unit to look at the
five main types of benefits commonly cited for staging big events.
They were: urban regeneration; sporting legacy; tourism; celebration and
culture; and wider economic uplift.
The study concluded: 'The quantifiable evidence to support each of the
perceived benefits for mega-events is weak. . . be clear that they
appear to be more about celebration than economic return.'
John Clark, the report's chief author, said: 'We concluded that
countries should host the Olympics only for reasons of national
celebration because the economic rationale is weak.'
Despite this, the government's publicity machine went into overdrive to
sell London as the 2012 venue, bringing in top Olympians such as Lord
Coe to head up the bid.
Crucially, ministers claimed it would regenerate East London and
increase participation in sport.
In the meantime 'Game Plan' was dismissed and buried as an 'inconvenient
truth', said Stefan Szymanski, a professor at Cass Business School and
one of the authors.
He said: 'Almost the moment the ink was dry, there was a volte-face.'
Alex Story, a former Olympic rower who monitors 2012 for the Taxpayers'
Alliance, said: 'On both the cost and the benefits to youngsters,
ministers oversold the Games. It was a false prospectus; they knew it
was unrealistic.
News of the report emerged as Games bosses meet to decide how to cut
funding for Olympic sports including hockey and basketball. UK Sport,
responsible for nurturing sport in Britain, is facing a £79 million
black hole in its £300 million budget.
Olympics Minister Tessa Jowell has already admitted the bid would not
have gone ahead if the government knew about the recession.
Some £550 million of lottery funds have been channelled into the
Olympics and away from grassroots sports. Arts have lost around £300
million through diversion of funds.
Hugh Robertson, the Shadow Sports Minister, said: 'By ruthlessly
suppressing the report without addressing its conclusions, the
Government has knowingly wasted huge amounts of public money that could
have been used to improve sport in this country.'
Last night a DCMS spokesman said the 'Game Plan' report stated that
there would be no additional benefits only if Britain merely staged the
Olympics.
He said: 'What we are doing is putting in place a number of additional
measures to allow us to get these benefits.'
Lord Coe's final summary to the International Olympic Committee read:
'Your decision today is critical. It is a decision about which bid
offers the vision and sporting legacy to best promote the Olympic cause.
It is a decision about which city will help us show a new generation why
sport matters; in a world of many distractions, why Olympic sport
matters.'
Tony Blair also highlighted the importance of legacy as London made its
bid.
He said: 'I think hosting the Games would be a tremendous thing for the
country and a tremendous thing obviously for Britain and British sport.
'I think what we have now got to do is go out and show to people that
the country as a whole is absolutely behind it, and that what we will
achieve by having the Olympics in London is not just a good Olympics for
three weeks, but a lasting sporting legacy for the country.'
The government's Olympic 'Legacy Action Plan', which was used to help
win the bid, included in its targets: 'To transform the heart of East
London.'
http://www.dailymai
Ministers-told-
Tuesday, 2 December 2008
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