Jowell: we wouldn't have bid if we'd known about slump

THE London Olympics would not be happening if the Government had known a recession was on its way when it bid for the Games, Tessa Jowell has declared.

In a clear hint that Gordon Brown may have blocked the project, the Olympics minister told leisure industry bosses that ministers would have been deterred by the huge cost of funding the 2012 event in a downturn. Ms Jowell, right, said at a dinner: "Had we known what we know now, would we have bid for the Olympics? Almost certainly not."

The budget for the Games has ballooned from £2.4 billion when Britain won the bid to more than £9 billion today. Miss Jowell insisted the Government was bearing down on costs. "We have taken £1.5 billion of costs out of the project since we started," she said. The minister tried to play down her comments last night, declaring that they "should be seen in the context in which they were made". "I have often observed that we bid for 2012 in one economic climate and are now in another." Ms Jowell then hinted that the Treasury was sceptical about the costs of the Olympic bid back in 2005. "Had the scale of the downturn been anticipated, I am sure there would have been a view from some that this would not be the time to commit significant public expenditure to a project like the Olympics," she said.

"But as I made clear in my speech, the reality is very different. This is precisely the time for this investment to be made. It has the potential to be economic gold at a time of economic need. It will regenerate one of the most deprived parts of east London and is already creating billions of pounds worth of work for British companies and jobs for thousands."