‘Selective’ May accused over G4S Olympic fiasco

Theresa May has been accused of giving MPs a “selective account” about when she knew G4S were having problems supplying enough guards to secure the Olympics.

The Home Secretary admitted the Government and organisers Locog knew there were problems and that G4S, the world’s second largest private sector employer, could fail to meet its contract as early as June 27.

It came after the company’s chief executive Nick Buckles told MPs he did not tell Locog about the problems until a week later and Mrs May told the Commons the “absolute gap in numbers” was not known until July 11.

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The revelation came as a further 1,200 troops were put on standby to provide Olympics security as the fallout from the shambles continued.

Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper, MP for Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford, said: “The Home Secretary was asked repeatedly when she and the Home Office were warned about problems at G4S, and she repeatedly gave everyone the impression they had only known since July 11.

“Why has Theresa May waited until now to admit the Home Office in fact were warned two weeks earlier? She needs to explain urgently how she justifies having given Parliament and the public such a selective account, and why the Home Office were so slow to respond.”

The details were revealed by Mrs May in a letter to the Commons Home Affairs Select Committee and its chairman, Labour MP Keith Vaz, called for any updates on the figures contained in monthly internal assurance reports to be released and for an explanation as to “why they did not ring alarm bells sooner”.

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But a Home Office spokesman said: “Mr Buckles’ evidence to the Home Affairs Select Committee this week confirmed what the Home Secretary told the House of Commons: G4S did not tell Ministers that they would be unable to deliver their contractual obligations until July 11.”

Earlier, Labour leader Ed Miliband, MP for Doncaster North, called for G4S to be blocked from getting new Government contracts in the wake of the Olympics security shambles. He said the failure to provide the promised personnel for the 2012 Games “demands that the Government rethinks its position on the role of the private sector in policing”.

And he also suggested private security staff undertaking any policing work should be accountable to the Independent Police Complaints Commission in the same way as sworn officers.

G4S is already involved in £600m of private work for the Home Office alone, and had been hoping to increase its share of the market.

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Last night, a G4S spokesman said: “G4S continues to focus huge resource and effort on increasing the number of G4S personnel engaged in the Olympics security programme. We are making good progress, with daily increases in the number of people working at Olympics venues.”