London Olympics Bill

I rise to support my hon. Friend the Member for Bath (Mr. Foster) and the hon. Member for Faversham and Mid-Kent (Hugh Robertson). I wish to add a couple of points that may persuade many hon. Members, and not only those from London, of the merits of the case. The House may be aware that I am a great enthusiast for the Olympic games. I was really keen that we should make a bid and before the mayoral elections, I made it clear that I supported the Government—as did the Conservative candidate. In case the hon. Member for Rhondda (Chris Bryant) has another go at my hon. Friend the Member for Richmond Park (Susan Kramer) who was my predecessor as candidate—and an excellent candidate she was, too—I should make it clear that she and our party in London also believed that it was right to support the games. Concerns were expressed, as might be expected in our capital city, not only in political circles but by ordinary members of the public, that the project might run out of control financially. Therefore, we watched with interest in the last Parliament—before the last mayoral election—as the negotiations went on between the Mayor of London, Ministers and others about the funding package. The negotiations produced a split between a London contribution, a lottery contribution and a London Development Agency contribution. It was also proposed that the games themselves, once everything had been built, would be self-financing. I wish to give a couple of reasons for supporting the amendment. First, it is of course the case that people in Loughborough and Bath are further away from the games than people in London, and people in Perth and North Perthshire are further away still. However, people in Hillingdon or Uxbridge, or on the edge of north-west London and in Watford, or on the southern edge of Croydon, which is almost into Surrey, will receive no direct benefit from the regeneration of the east end, any more than people in Loughborough or Wales or Scotland. They may be part of Greater London, but in many ways they consider themselves to live in Surrey, Hertfordshire or Middlesex, so they too want to know that they will not be asked to pay an undue amount. It is different for people who live in Hackney or Tower Hamlets, because they know that they will benefit directly from projects connected with the Olympics, such as the extension of the East London line, the development of the Lea valley and the legacy of housing and sports facilities. That is not the case for people a long way away on the other side of the largest metropolis in Europe. Secondly and self-evidently, another of the contributions comes from Londoners—the LDA contribution. The LDA is one of the four children of the Greater London Authority, just like the Metropolitan Police Authority. So although the LDA is regarded as a separate heading in the funding streams, the money will not fall out of a tree and it certainly will not come out of the Mayor’s pocket. It will come from Londoners. It gets money from other places, but it is basically a London kitty to which Londoners make a contribution.