£24,000,000 IN BONUSES FOR OLYMPIC BOSSES WHILE GLASGOW MISSES CONSEQUENTIALS AND CONTRACTS

£24,000,000 IN BONUSES FOR OLYMPIC BOSSES WHILE GLASGOW MISSES CONSEQUENTIALS AND CONTRACTS

LABOUR INCENTIVES FOR LONDON AN INSULT TO GLASGOW

A parliamentary question has revealed the UK Government has paid out more than £24m in bonuses and incentives to seven London Olympic contractors – while Scotland misses out on Olympic regeneration consequentials and contracts.

Official answers already show that Scottish, Welsh and Irish firms have not benefited from Olympic contracts with just 17 Scottish firms securing Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) contracts – in contrast to 1,022 English firms. Wales received 4 contracts and Northern Ireland 3, while as many contracts went overseas as came to Scotland.

SNP spokesperson on the Olympics, Pete Wishart MP, expressed anger that the UK Government was contributing nothing towards the Glasgow Commonwealth Games while paying bonuses to London Olympic consultants.

Mr Wishart said:

“I am absolutely amazed that the UK Government thinks it can justify paying more than £24m in bonuses to seven Olympic contractors when they refuse to provide a penny towards the Glasgow Commonwealth Games.

“We already know that Scottish companies are an afterthought when lucrative Olympic contracts are being awarded, but this adds insult to injury. Imagine what we could do in Glasgow with £24m towards the Commonwealth Games’ legacy.

“Scotland is already missing out on any consequentials from the massive spending regenerating London's East End for the Olympics whilst Downing Street deny the same funding to the Scottish Government for Glasgow to host the Commonwealth Games. The Scottish Government are funding 80% of the Games’ costs, with Glasgow Council funding 20%.

“Spending by the UK Government on regeneration around the London Olympics should generate £165m - £33m per annum over the five years to 2012-13 - for Scotland under the Barnett formula. The expenditure is on areas such as regeneration and there is a strong case argued by all three devolved administrations that this spending should rightly be subject to the Barnett formula in the normal way.”