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Livingstone: My 2012 bid was to snare billions of pounds for London
Evening Standard 24 Apr 2008
Ken Livingstone claims that the ballooning budget for the Olympics was central to his plan to "ensnare" the Government into bidding for the Games.
Mr Livingstone told a mayoral hustings in London he didn't bid for the 2012 Olympics because he wanted "three weeks of sport". He said the Games, which will cost at least £9.3 billion to stage, were just a means of extracting funding for London.
He told an audience at St Martin-in-the-Fields church in Trafalgar Square: "I didn't bid for the Olympics because I wanted three weeks of sport. I bid for the Olympics because it's the only way to get the billions of pounds out of the Government to develop the East End, to clean the soil, put in the infrastructure and build the housing."
The Mayor's remarks came after he was criticised by Liberal Democrat rival Brian Paddick for claiming that original sums on the Olympics were "guesswork".
Mr Livingstone said: "It wasn't a mistake, Brian. It was exactly how I plotted it to ensnare the Government to put money into an area it has neglected for 30 years.
"I am delighted that there will be billions of pounds from the Government. That was exactly the plan. It has gone absolutely perfectly."
This week an influential group of MPs said it had "little confidence" the £9.3 billion target would not be exceeded. The Public Accounts Committee said the original estimate of just over £4 billion was "entirely unrealistic" and accused ministers of succumbing to " wishful thinking".
Mr Livingstone helped draft the original Olympics budget but has stressed that his main responsibility was for the level of council tax precept to help foot the bill. He stressed again last night that he had capped the amount Londoners would have to pay.
"I gave a guarantee to Londoners they wouldn't pay more than 38p each [a week]. We held to that," he said.
Mr Livingstone's team says that responsibility for drafting the budget was down to Whitehall but stresses it would have cost £200 million to get a fully costed estimate of the final bill - money the bid team did not have.
The Mayor's comments came at a hustings event organised by Christian groups at which the candidates were quizzed on issues of faith. Tory Boris Johnson praised the work of Christian groups in London which he said had been "neglected" by Mr Livingstone. He said: "We have this amazing utensil, the faith-based community, and they deserve every possible support."
Both the Labour and Tory candidates pledged to allow the building of more churches. Mr Paddick agreed, saying there was a " desperate need" for bigger places of worship.
Reader views (22)
What are the legal niceties over Ken's admitted con. Is this not tantamount to defrauding every tax payer and lottery player of their money. I help at a sports club where we keep between 200 and 300 youngsters entertained (off the Streets)on a Sunday, at a cost of some £25000 per year. We now can't get funding from our usual sources because everything is being channelled into the black hole down south. From a different perspective, hasn't he just admitted to bribing voters in a similar manner to the Tories did with the housing debacle?
- Alan Hodgson, Carlisle UK, 25/04/2008 15:25
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Ken was excellent on question time last night. He has to stay.
- Joe Lehane, Orpington, 25/04/2008 13:21
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Martin_Clerkenwell. You obviously did not watch Question Time last night. He openly admitted that he lied to the government, look for the clip on the web and then eat your words. The man has to go.
- Samantha, London, 25/04/2008 12:14
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Ken Livingstone is a liar. He admitted on Question Time last night that he lied and duped the government over the cost of the Olympics. How can we trust this man? He has been lying over tube fares, mixing with unsavoury people and getting rich with our money. Get the leech out and get Boris in.
- Samantha, London, 25/04/2008 12:11
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Social Engineering - Labour do it all the time.
- Fay,, London, 25/04/2008 11:42
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I just think that Ken is panicking now, as he sees his personal gravy train going!
And about time too!
- Peter, n1, 25/04/2008 11:15
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The concept that Ken kept the additional costs up his sleeve to hide from Govt is laughable. The bid was run by Lord Coe, with teams of advisors, accountants etc. So that is one hell of a conspiracy theory.
- Martin_Clerkenwell, London, 25/04/2008 10:19
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Leavingsoon really is off his rocker now. The only thing he will be remembered for is turning East London back into a slum - thousands of tenement flats, no facilities.
- Sjm, London, 24/04/2008 23:41
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Well done then Ken. You've managed to con the Government into wasting the equivalent of around 2million families tax for a year.......I'm sure the consultants and contractors are clapping!
- Mark, London, 24/04/2008 18:49
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Politicians using sport to further their aims? Whatever next. Coe was obviously a poacher turned gamekeeper. The franchise to run the transport to the Olympics has been awarded to KenCo Gravy Ltd.
- Michael Murphy, Brightlingsea, England, 24/04/2008 17:49
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Is the 38p per week capped in the same way that bus and tube fares were capped?
- Jane, London, 24/04/2008 16:03
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The bill for these games will end up the better part of £20billion you can bet on that and we the taxpayers will have to foot the bill. Why not spend the money on housing and better areas to live in than on a racing track and a few stadiums that we do not really need. Talk about wasting money and trying to pull the wool over our eyes; Livingstone is a very crafty manipulator and always trying to look the benign uncle to everyone (well almost everyone).
- Stephen D., London England., 24/04/2008 15:52
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Okay, now that Mr Livingstone has - come clean - about his "ill-conceived action" perhaps he will immediately follow-up this disclosure with the "truth" about exactly "who it is that will be made to pay for the multi-billion pound shortfall in 2012 Olympics budget"?
Will somebody please get mr Livingstone to make this announcement before the end of this week. Thank you.
- Fraser, Telford Park, 24/04/2008 15:20
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Is this guy deluded enough to believe that government funding is not sourced by taxpayers earnings?! All he's "ensnared" is local taxpayers to foot a bill that in 2008 is more than double what he said it would be in 2005. Project that out to 2012 and we'll all be penniless if he gets a 3rd term!
This man is not fit to run London. How many times does he have to prove it to us?!
- Deb, London, 24/04/2008 14:27
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Oh dear, proving yet again that he hasn't got a clue.
- Onyer Bike, Kensington, 24/04/2008 14:19
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Good on Ken - London subsidises the rest of the UK and it's time we got something back !!
- Matt, london, 24/04/2008 13:46
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Db - try not to sound like a paid-up member of the loony-Right - "do a Mugabe" is a ridiculous thing to say. Ken, for all his faults, can hardly be compared to that despicable despot. Why do people insist in bringing Hitler, Stalin and any other autocratic dictator in debates during what are basically minor differences in policy?
- Liam, London, 24/04/2008 13:33
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As an example of self-serving spin, Ken's latest pronouncement re the burgeoning budget for the Olympics would have to be the ultimate! The man must think we are all stupid to expect us to believe this. Obviously, he has been living on planet Ken for so long that he can no longer discern the difference between his fantasy and the real world we live in.
I'm now waiting for him to take his shoes off and have a shot at walking across the Thames.
- Kiwi Expat, London, UK, 24/04/2008 13:29
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Quelle surprise. Ken is happy to state he knowingly misled all and sundry - including at the time the voters of London - so he could get more "Government" money than he thought he could achieve if he was open and honest about his intentions. I wonder why he is held in such low esteem by so many Londoners?
But will the voters of London ponder over the fact his cunning scheme to grab more "Government" money than he was prepared to be truthful about also impacts on them as - quelle surprise again - taxpayers.
- Patrick, London, 24/04/2008 12:58
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Does Ken not understand the most simple of economics?
We the people pay the government, the government don't have any money apart from what we give them in taxes. Therefore we will be paying for the Olympics in full for many years to come.
And £200m to cost the works! What planet is he on? As a builder I can say that is would cost a tenth of that even if you had the best company of surveyors on the planet.
At least now we know where all of our money has gone. Ken and this government have no idea what value for money is.
- Jimbob, Kensington, 24/04/2008 12:48
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The idea that this massive overspend was some sort of a cunning plot beggars belief. I suppose it is the only thing the Mayor can say. Just a reminder for anyone alive before 2005. Massive funds were already being earmarked for the area long long before the Olympics. All the Games have done is made existing planned works more expensive - not enough construction workers, not enough capacity so up go prices - and a multi billion pound sporting spectacle has been tacked on, which will leave the usual white elephants and unusable buildings. And in addition the Games redevelopment has closed local companies or moved them far away, unemployment continues at its high levels in the area and EU laws effectively rule out the use of local employees. All the things promised have not come to pass...except of course for our own prediction at the London Assembly in 2005 that the Games would cost £10 billion and provide no new jobs at all. As we said at the time, this whole charade is for politicians and their mates. Not for us. But do we just carry on paying ever more? Do we just sit by and say 'oh dear' as the Tories did when we challenged them in 2005 to support our attempt to get early disclosure of a REAL budget for the Games. A Tory Mayor or Government will do nothing to help because they are up to their neck in it as much as the present Government.
- Damian Hockney A.M., London, 24/04/2008 12:39
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What a slimeball! Are we going to allow ourselves to be 'ensnared' by him again. The Olympics was not about sport; the election is not about Londoners, it is all a snare to do a Mugabe. Power for life! We must get him out!
- Db, London, 24/04/2008 12:29
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