• Question by: Darren Johnson
• Meeting date: 23 February 2005

Basically, you only really cared about the bid. It was not really about whether we get the Games or not, it was just about the bid to unlock regeneration funding and transport funding.

• Question by: Darren Johnson
• Meeting date: 23 February 2005

You have fallen for the hype, then?

• Question by: Angie Bray
• Meeting date: 23 February 2005

It makes it quite clear that the Prime Minister would not wish to damage other public programmes by spending money from the Treasury on an overspend from the Olympics. At the time, there would be discussions on how the split would fall, but it is clear that the two sets of shoulders on which it would fall would be a combination of the Lottery and the London council tax payers. That is specifically mentioned in the memorandum.

• Question by: Angie Bray
• Meeting date: 23 February 2005

I can tell you what the exact wording is.

• Question by: Damian Hockney
• Meeting date: 23 February 2005

The Government itself said about the Arup bid that it was unrealistic.

• Question by: Damian Hockney
• Meeting date: 23 February 2005

I take your point, but the problem is that people do not really know what the funding package is going to be. It has been reported widely that what we said going back seven or eight months is that the amount is not going to be capped for Londoners. Londoners might well pay more than the walnut whip level. Can you confirm that the spending by Londoners will be capped, in other words that will be the level and they will pay no more?

• Question by: Damian Hockney
• Meeting date: 23 February 2005

My point is that you did not really decide, because if you had decided to go with the Arup figures, then it would have been widely ridiculed. The key to this is really that if Londoners are going to pay more than has been said before, surely it would be better ' I take your point about referenda ' but it is a slightly surprising political journey, I think, that I see in you when you mention the euro or European Constitution. If we ended up a British Government bound for all time by the terms of the euro and...

• Question by: Angie Bray
• Meeting date: 23 February 2005

Are you saying that this document, as detailed in a very detailed parliamentary written answer, does not exist?

• Question by: Peter Hulme Cross
• Meeting date: 23 February 2005

Still on the Olympics, the Head of Communications for Athens (Serafim Kotrotsos) was recently quoted as saying, `It is like we built a brand new house, held a great party then closed it. Now we have no more guests.- The legacy of that is empty stadiums, a crumbling infrastructure and huge debt. We are going down the same route: we are going to have magnificent facilities, but if you are going to keep them going, it is going to cost quite a bit in ongoing maintenance and what have you. What guarantee is there that those new facilities will be...

• Question by: Bob Blackman
• Meeting date: 23 February 2005

There is the issue of the businesses that are in the Lea Valley at the moment. If we are successful, a lot of those businesses will be displaced or closed with potential loss of jobs. Equally, there is the potential sword of Damocles hanging over these businesses if we are not successful, and what happens after July for them. What message do you have for the businesses in the Lea Valley?