Hizb ut-Tahrir Britain

Top Menu

  • About US
  • Join US
  • Videos
  • Infographics
  • Comment
  • Question and Answer
  • Watch us Live

Main Menu

  • Home
  • Viewpoint
  • Islamic Culture
  • Da’wah
  • Media
  • People
    • Sheikh Taqiuddin an-Nabahani (Founder)
    • Sheikh Abdul Qadeem Zallum (Successor)
    • Sheikh Ata Abu Rashta (Ameer)
    • Abdul Wahid
    • Abu Yusuf
    • Jamal Harwood
    • Taji Mustafa
  • Books
  • Youth
  • Covid-19
  • About US
  • Join US
  • Videos
  • Infographics
  • Comment
  • Question and Answer
  • Watch us Live

logo

Header Banner

Hizb ut-Tahrir Britain

  • Home
  • Viewpoint
    • Making Sense of Pakistan

      April 16, 2022
      0
    • How Should We View the War in Ukraine?

      March 30, 2022
      0
    • The India Hijab Issue from an Islamic Perspective

      March 24, 2022
      0
    • DEEP DIVE: The Weaponisation and Politicisation of British Citizenship Laws

      March 12, 2022
      0
    • Our Role in the Ukraine war is to Expose the Propaganda

      March 2, 2022
      0
    • Muslims Should Rejoice Over the Islamic Ruling System

      January 21, 2022
      0
    • Another Warmonger Honoured for Serving the British Elite

      January 2, 2022
      0
    • The Golden Jubilee of Bangladesh Victory Day (Bijoy Dibos): a cause for ...

      December 13, 2021
      0
    • Playing Politics with the Uygher Muslims

      December 2, 2021
      0
  • Islamic Culture
    • Reading Quran

      The story of the man who was told to “Enter Paradise” and ...

      January 24, 2022
      0
    • Significance of Rabi’ul-Awwal

      October 10, 2021
      0
    • Virtues of the Month of Muharram

      August 10, 2021
      0
    • The significance of first 10 days of Dhul Hijjah

      July 10, 2021
      0
    • The Honour of the Prophets

      April 30, 2021
      0
    • A to Z of Ramadan

      April 19, 2021
      0
    • The Dawah to Allah (swt)

      December 29, 2020
      0
    • Miracle of the Quran

      Q & A - Compilation of The Holy Quran During the Reign ...

      December 27, 2020
      0
    • Imam Bukhari: A Role Model for the ‘Ulema and Da’wah Carriers to ...

      November 17, 2020
      0
  • Da’wah
    • Public Demonstration - Independence Not Intervention

      April 22, 2022
      0
    • VIDEO : [LIVESTREAMED] Pakistan in Crisis: The Players, Politics, and People

      April 20, 2022
      0
    • Ramadan Message: The World Needs Islam - We Must Work for the ...

      April 1, 2022
      0
    • The India Hijab Issue from an Islamic Perspective

      March 24, 2022
      0
    • Ramadhan event: Kyiv to Kabul: The World Needs Islam

      March 20, 2022
      0
    • Obituary of a Dawah Carrier Dr. Youssef Haj Youssef

      December 30, 2021
      0
    • Open Letter to Imams and Muslim Leaders

      September 28, 2021
      0
    • Hizb ut-Tahrir Britain Sends Delegation to Chinese Embassy Condemning the Inhumane Treatment ...

      June 30, 2021
      0
    • Jahangir Raja: Obituary of a Da’wah Carrier

      June 28, 2021
      0
  • Media
  • People
    • Sheikh Taqiuddin an-Nabahani (Founder)
    • Sheikh Abdul Qadeem Zallum (Successor)
    • Sheikh Ata Abu Rashta (Ameer)
    • Abdul Wahid
    • Abu Yusuf
    • Jamal Harwood
    • Taji Mustafa
  • Books
  • Youth
  • Covid-19
News Watch
Home›News Watch›Despite public spending cuts: Olympics Bill Tops £12bn

Despite public spending cuts: Olympics Bill Tops £12bn

By Press Editor
January 27, 2012
744
0
Share:

The true cost of staging the 2012 Olympics is five times the figure given when London won the bid in 2005.

A Sky investigation has revealed the final cost for the Games will be more than £12bn.

However, associated costs could make the bill as high as £24bn – a staggering 10 times the original estimate.

When London bid for the Games seven years ago the predicted cost of staging the Olympics and Paralympics was put at £2.37bn.

The original public sector funding package, which is primarily cash to build the venues and provide security and policing, was increased in 2007 to about £9.3bn following a review.

However Sky has counted an extra £2.4bn on top of the current £9.3bn public sector funding package for the Games.

The additional cash includes spends on more anti-doping control officers, money for local councils for their Olympic torch relay programmes, cash spent on legacy schemes, paying tube workers not to strike, governmental operational costs, the cost of the Olympic Park Legacy Company, legal bills over the stadium tenancy decision and extra pounds to UK Sport.

This figure today is only a start. There are numerous other Olympic spends that have not yet been discovered or counted by us. These figures are not being offered up and requests are being evaded.

Lia Hervey, Olympics producer

The figures also take into account the cost of buying the land for the venues at £766m.

Negotiations are still ongoing about the debt this has left and who will pay for this after the land value becomes considerably lower because of the recession.

The £12bn cost of the Olympics, calculated by Sky, does not include extra counter-terrorism funding of £1.131bn being allocated to the police despite a ministerial statement saying “much of this capacity will be devoted to the Olympics in 2012”.

Nor does it include the £4.4bn budgets of the security and intelligence services.

It also does not take into account the opportunity cost of having the majority of the UK police force working on the Games instead of fighting crime elsewhere.

On peak days 12,000 officers will be policing the Games.

In addition, Sky’s overall total misses out the £6.5bn spent on transport upgrades which have been brought forward due to the Olympics and could have been cancelled as part of Government spending cuts were it not for the event.

If these figures had been counted, the Olympic spend would have totalled well over £24bn – more than double the current budget and 10 times the original calculation.

The figures also do not consider the cost of actually staging the Games.

This is paid for by the London Organising Committee (Locog), a private company which raises revenues primarily through sponsorship, merchandising and ticket sales.

Locog’s budget for the Olympics is £2.1bn.

Sky’s Olympic team has counted as many extra Olympic spends as possible across public bodies but there is certainly more spending that has not been accounted for.

Many public bodies have repeatedly ignored Sky’s requests for information.

Newham Council, the local authority staging the majority of the Games, provided some figures but requests for further details have been ignored despite contacting them six times.

A number of Freedom of Information requests to the council by members of the public have also failed to get the figures.

But Sky can reveal that they are providing £40m of public money towards the Olympic Stadium conversion and have also spent £700,000 on Olympic projects.

The council spent nearly £1m on their legal costs over the West Ham and Spurs FC row over the stadium and have spent £29,400 on tickets.

As with previous Games, nobody has ever been able to accurately predict the final cost and it will not be until 2013 when we can say whether any increased tourism, economic benefits and the returns from the tenancy or sale of the Olympic venues and village made them a worthwhile investment.

Emma Boon, campaign director for the Taxpayers’ Alliance, said: “In some cases it is very difficult to pick apart Olympic spending and separate it out.

“For example, if you look at things like police budgets particularly, it’s very difficult to say (whether) those officers would have been on duty that day anyway and whether they are specifically doing Olympic duties or not… To a degree we will never know.

“But I think as far as possible the accounts relating to the Olympics have got to be open, they have got to be honest – publish them on the internet, let taxpayers go and have a look at where their money has gone.”

However, Olympics minister Hugh Robertson told Sky News the public spending package is “absolutely” still £9.3bn.

“That in itself is a difficult figure as there is lottery money in that, and there will be money that is repaid when thigns like the broadcast media centre are sold,” he said.

Mr Robertson added: “That £9.3bn figure is not a true figure of the cost to the taxpayer.”

London Mayor Boris Johnson told Sky News he agreed it was important to assess value for money but insisted the projects would deliver 40,000 jobs, valuable skills and economic growth.

Regarding the decreasing value of some of the land, he said money would return to the public purse when it is built on, he said.

“You can classify a lot of different budget lines and expenditure in the last five, six years and going forward into the future as Olympic-related where they might be delivering regeneration in London, driving economic growth,” he said from Davos.

“The transport spend, the land-purchase spend, these are things I think economists might classify it in a different way.”

However a Department for Culture, Media and Sport spokesman said: “The Public Sector Funding Package for the Games is £9.3bn and includes all additional security, defence and public transport provision for the Games.

“It is simply not right to start adding on top of that budgets that would have been in existence regardless of 2012 and claim that as being an Olympic cost.

“We have always been transparent about the cost of the Games and have rigorously managed the budget to ensure the programme remains within the £9.3bn.

“London 2012 is an investment in our country that is already bringing in economic benefits that would otherwise not have been possible.

“It is an incredible opportunity for the United Kingdom – not a burden.”

Sky News

Previous Article

Reject disgusting values that America & Britain ...

Next Article

Davos: a sanatorium for those in denial ...

0
Shares
  • 0
  • +
  • 0

Related articles More from author

  • News Watch

    US deploys Predator drones in Yemen

    November 7, 2010
    By Press Editor
  • News Watch

    Syrian army supply crisis has regime on brink of collapse, say defectors

    July 28, 2012
    By Editor
  • News Watch

    Protest against Syrian crackdown

    May 8, 2011
    By Editor
  • News Watch

    Syrian security forces patrol to stop protest in Damascus

    February 20, 2012
    By Press Editor
  • News Watch

    Theresa May urges action on ‘jihad tourism’

    July 9, 2013
    By Press Editor
  • News Watch

    French anti-gay marriage protesters clash with police in Paris

    March 25, 2013
    By Press Editor

Leave a reply Cancel reply

Liberate Al Aqsa

Join US on Telegram

Podcast

Latest Posts

Press Releases

Protest in London Says No To More Democracy, Yes to the Khilafah

Members of Hizb ut Tahrir in Britain, alongside supporters from the Muslim community, gathered on Saturday 7th May 2022 at the Pakistan High Commission in London to protest against US ...
  • Hizb ut-Tahrir Britain to Protest American Interference in Pakistan’s Politics

    By Yahya Nisbet
    May 1, 2022
  • Public Demonstration – Independence Not Intervention

    By Editor
    April 22, 2022
  • VIDEO : [LIVESTREAMED] Pakistan in Crisis: The Players, Politics, and People

    By Editor
    April 20, 2022
  • The Geopolitics of Badr

    By Editor
    April 17, 2022
  • Making Sense of Pakistan

    By Editor
    April 16, 2022
  • Muslims in Britain Should Speak Out Against the Pakistani Leadership’s Surrender of Kashmir

    By Yahya Nisbet
    April 15, 2022
  • Muslims in Britain should support the call for the Khilafah in Pakistan

    By Yahya Nisbet
    April 12, 2022
  • Press Centre