Well, this was utterly predictable: The Daily Telegraph:
Tessa Jowell raised the prospect of tax rises to fund the Olympics yesterday as a senior insider gave a warning that the final bill would be £12 billion, more than four times the original estimate. The Culture Secretary said the Government was looking at finding “other sources” of funding on top of the planned income from council taxpayers in London, the National Lottery and private investment. She refused to rule out a fresh rise in council tax in the capital but conceded that there were “limits of tolerance” on how much of the burden could be carried by people in London. In a clear signal that she wanted the cost shared more widely, Miss Jowell stressed that the Olympics were a “project of unprecedented scale and national importance.”
Give the wretched spectacle to Paris. Now. Meanwhile, this is the same government that refuses to pay for proper military equipment for British troops in Afghanistan. Interesting priorities.