BROWN CONTRADICTS OLYMPIC MINISTER ON GAMES.

BROWN CONTRADICTS OLYMPIC MINISTER ON GAMES.

WISHART CALLS ON GOVERNMENT TO GET A GRIP ON COSTS

SNP Culture, Media and Sport spokesperson, Pete Wishart MP, has seized on comments by Prime Minister Gordon Brown today (Friday) as yet another example of Labour hypocrisy and spin.

Mr Brown said that the London Olympics will be an important "job creator and growth generator" in the face of an economic recession, however, his comment contradicts an admission by Olympics Minister Tessa Jowell in November that the UK Government would never have chosen to host the 2012 Olympics if it known an economic downturn was around the corner.

Mr Wishart said:

“First, Tessa Jowell tells us that the UK Government would not have bid for the Olympics if they had known a recession was on the cards, now Gordon Brown is billing it as a way out!

“Labour’s accounting over the cost of the Olympics has been a shambles from start to finish. The costs are already spiralling out of control - from £2.4bn to almost ten billion.

“Good causes the length and breadth of Scotland are worried about their funding as money is redirected towards the Olympics, and at a time of economic uncertainty it is essential the UK government get a grip on the spiralling Olympic budget.”