LDA and the Olympics

I've just got back from an LDA board meeting. Those of you keeping an eye on the Olympics will no doubt be aware of the budgetary shortfall that has been uncovered by our finance team. We discussed the plans for covering the commitments and who we got where we are.

Having spent the last year finding efficiency savings across the agency and its projects we had build up a buffer which has been absorbed. Covering £160 million will hurt but thankfully it won't hurt as much as it might of had we not tightened our belts already.

It was clear that the "don't bring me bad news about the Olympics" attitude that existed in the government and in Livingstone's City Hall did nothing to help these kind of problems come to light. When people try to make political capitol out of the LDA board or the Conservative group pushing the Mayor hard sometimes they should remember the cost of surrounding yourself with yes men like Livingstone did.