Member

We know what happened in London. There was significant legislation brought forward and debated at significant length. That was after a major debate in your Lordships’ House before we bid for the Olympic Games, which was regarded by the International Olympic Committee as absolutely critical to the political support in both Houses for the Games bid. They monitored very carefully the legislation that went through both Houses under the excellent leadership of Tessa Jowell to produce the primary legislation that was specific and necessary for the hosting of the Games, including a whole range of issues from intellectual property protection to security and policing, venue regulations, and tax exemptions, which are not covered by one of the five categories that will come forward. Indeed, on the whole question of the funding of the Games, we hoped they would cost £2 billion to £3 billion when we first discussed the subject. It ended up, if you count all the security requirements, and the dedication of our outstanding security services, at north of £10 billion. The idea that that would not be debated in detail through a finance measure in both Houses is simply unrealistic.