London 2012 Olympics: Culture secretary Jeremy Hunt confident that Olympics will come under budget

The Government is “more confident than it ever has been” that the Olympics will come in under budget, with a contingency reserve of around £500 million intact just 150 days before the opening ceremony, culture secretary Jeremy Hunt has told Telegraph Sport.

On Tuesday the latest Olympic budget update will be published and is expected to show that there has been no additional call on contingency in the three months to December 2011.

In December the National Audit Office warned that it was likely that the £9.3  billion budget would be exceeded, but Hunt said the latest figures made that unlikely.

He also said the financial position justified his decision to recommend the doubling for the ceremonies budget with an additional £41 million injection, money he says has been clawed back through savings elsewhere.

“There has been unbelievably tight financial control across the project,” Hunt said.

“We still need an unallocated contingency because there are things that could come up, but we can be much more confident that we will be within budget than we have ever been. 

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