THE COFFERS ARE EMPTY

A quite extraordinary and revealing exchange took place yesterday in the House of Commons between Tessa Jowell, Secretary of State, Department for Culture, Media and Sport, and a series of MP’s from both main political parties (our own Mr Hepburn being one). Clearly, the writing is on the wall with regards to how the Olympics will be funded; at the expense of community, heritage and voluntary projects up and down the country (but not Scotland). Please see my post “Robbing Peter To Pay Paul” 16 April 2007 for additional information. Clearly MP’s are worried, not only because they see the devastation that cuts in funding will cause to constituent projects, but they also fear a back lash at the ballot box. I have highlighted one of Tessa Jowell’s comments in green; I suspect these words will come back to haunt her!

I wonder now if the true cost of the Olympics i.e. financial and social, were put to a referendum, would people be in favour of the games coming to this country? I suspect not.

He is the exchange in full. It looks long, but it’s worth reading in order to see what really is happening with Olympic funding issues.

STEPHEN HEPBURN MP JARROW LABOUR “Will the Secretary of State pay tribute to those unsung heroes in sport—namely, local volunteers such as my constituent, Martin Devlin, whose boxing gym is bursting at the seams? Would it not be ironic if the greatest sporting spectacle that this country will ever have seen—the Olympics—were to deprive that boxing gym of its much needed extension? Will the Secretary of State meet me to discuss the matter further?”

TESSA JOWELL MP (Secretary of State, Department for Culture, Media & Sport) “I am very happy to meet my hon. Friend, for two reasons. First, I hope to hear more about the community boxing club in his constituency, which is obviously providing an invaluable service; and, secondly, in order to underline the important potential for boxing as a sport—a particularly underestimated community sport—for young men. More broadly, I would like to provide reassurance that the lottery contribution to the Olympic special cause is not bought at the price of excellent community projects such as the one that my hon. Friend mentions.”

MARIA MILLER MP BASINGSTOKE CONSERVATIVE “Essential local services in my constituency, such as NeighbourCare and Speakeasy Advocacy, provide important and fundamental services to the elderly and people with learning difficulties, but they are already finding it difficult to secure lottery funding. What assurances can the Secretary of State give me and the people of Basingstoke that that situation will not get worse if there are further miscalculations about how much the Olympics will cost us?”

TESSA JOWELL MP (Secretary of State, Department for Culture, Media & Sport) “There have been no miscalculations about how much the Olympics are going to cost. The budget has been set and it will be kept to. I would say to the hon. Lady that it is completely unrealistic to ask for the sort of categorical assurance that every single lottery application will be met. It depends on whether it meets the criteria for the lottery distributors and so forth. What the Government have done is to assemble an Olympic budget that will stand the test of time and deliver a legacy for this country. What we have not yet heard is what the Opposition's alternative might be.

DAVID CLELLAND MP TYNE BRIDGE LABOUR “I hear what my right hon. Friend says about lottery-funded schemes, but will she comment on the suggestion that Sport England is to divert £26 million from the sort of schemes mentioned by my hon. Friend the Member for Jarrow (Mr. Hepburn) into the Olympics? Can she give us the same sort of reassurance on that front?”

TESSA JOWELL MP (Secretary of State, Department for Culture, Media & Sport) “Yes, I can give my hon. Friend the same sort of reassurance. I do not recognise the figure that he mentioned, but as ever, I would be happy to meet my hon. Friend or help him to meet the chairman of Sport England in order to put his mind at rest about that.”

REPRODUCED FROM
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