London Olympic budget fixed

The London 2012 Olympic Games will not be getting any extra government cash, Tessa Jowell has said.

In an interview with the BBC the Olympics minister said that the £9.325bn already allocated to the Games was the limit.

Spending in other areas of the Olympic would have to be reduced if a particular project required more funds, she said.

Earlier London mayor Boris Johnson said: "We will come in on budget and we will not waste taxpayers' money."

At the time of the bid, costs were estimated at just over £4bn, but last year the budget was put at £9.325bn.

And the National Audit Office has warned that spending may rise further due to uncertainty of costs of security and unsigned construction contracts.

But Jowell said: "Within the overall ceiling of £9.325bn there's no more money.

"If we have to find more money for a particular aspect of the programme, then savings will have to be affected elsewhere and everybody involved in the programme understands that."

Johnson acknowledged that China had put on a "fantastic show" adding: "We can't muster quite as many people as the Chinese but I want people to know that I don't think anybody on the London Olympic team is remotely intimidated by what the Chinese have done.

"Wonderful though it is we are going to put on something just as fine.

"We will be ready, we will come in on budget and we will not waste taxpayers' money."

Earlier the former Conservative prime minister Sir John Major said all political parties should back guaranteed, long-term National Lottery funding for grassroots sport, from where the Olympic stars of the future would come.