The Sunday Express reports that secret government documents obtained by the Conservative government show that the Treasury and the Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) hid the true cost of security from Members of Parliament and the public for more than a year, and are accusing Chancellor Gordon Brown and Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell of a “cover-up” over the true figures.
Last March Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell admitted to Parliament that security would add an extra 600 million pounds to the Games, but the leaked documents now reveal that both treasury and DCMS officials were openly discussing a one billion pound security bill for the London Games almost 18 months earlier.
Although security was originally estimated to cost 190 million pounds, minutes of a government meeting attending by officials from the Treasury and the DCMS in November 2005 put the true cost as “likely to be 750 million to one billion pounds”.
Saturday a spokesman for the DCMS said, “it is nonsense to suggest that we have been anything other than as open as possible in 2012 costs. In her statement to the Commons in March Tessa Jowell made it clear that the estimate of 600 million pounds for wider security, which is based on advice from the Home Office and the police, was a fluctuating figure, which has altered as assessments have changed. It will be subject to continued oversight and scrutiny in the months and years ahead”.
