London Olympics Bill

I very much agree with what the hon. Member for Crawley (Laura Moffatt) had to say about the opportunity that the Olympics, as a celebration of sporting excellence, can offer us, not only in fostering sporting excellence across the United Kingdom and identifying sports people who will win medals for us, but in taking the fullest advantage of the sports facilities that different communities can offer. For London, this celebration of sporting excellence is important. We shall see many facets of sport across greater London and the games will bring many nations together. With so many different people, London offers such diversity. One matter that has not been mentioned so far is that the bid was successful because it offered the prospect of being the greenest Olympics. Public transport will be used to allow people from across the whole of London to reach the games. It is important, especially for my constituents in south London, that the Government’s very good promises to invest in the East London line and extend the trams across south London, particularly to Crystal Palace, will provide support for good green travel plans. I am pleased that much reference has been made to the accountability of the Olympic delivery authority on the potential for cost overruns, especially in the context of the role that the Greater London Assembly has to pay—has to play, but also potentially pay—in holding the Mayor to account and scrutinising the power given to him by Parliament to restrict that budget if he has a two-thirds majority in favour of doing so. I made an intervention earlier in the debate about the great reluctance of the Mayor, the London Development Agency and members of the Olympic bid team to present themselves before the London Assembly when its members recently had questions to ask about the efficacy with which the bid would be taken forward. It strikes me that there will be a conflict in the procedure if the ODA refuses to appear before the Assembly when it has a role in restricting the budget that may be made available for this important initiative for the country as a whole. A sensitivity has been created by the tremendous gearing towards the London taxpayer when only 8 per cent. of the GLA’s spend is funded from London council tax payers.