Budget cuts will not affect 'spectacular' London Games

Lord Coe insists the Olympics are on course

The London 2012 Olympic Games will be "spectacular" even if funding is reduced, organisers have said.

Sebastian Coe, chairman of the London 2012 organising committee, said: "We've made extraordinary progress, we're ahead of schedule, we're on budget."

Last week new Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt said the Games would not be protected from budget cuts.

He also hinted that money could be taken from the project to ease financial pressures in other areas.

Mr Hunt said if the required cuts were spread evenly between all government departments, his would have to find £66m of savings.

Speaking last week, Labour's former Olympic's minister Tessa Jowell said the government should be "very careful" about destabilising the Olympic budget.

'Short term savings'

"Reducing the available contingency could well lead to short term savings, but greater costs in the long term," she said.

The Conservative-Liberal Democrats coalition government have promised a budget within 50 days, with Chancellor George Osborne to outline his plans on 22 June.

Any impact on the London 2012 budget will be known then.

We have two years to go to the delivery of something spectacular

Lord Coe, chairman of the London 2012 organising committee

Lord Coe said: "The organising committee, which is what I'm responsible for, is raising large sums of money in what has been an extraordinarily difficult climate.

"We have two years to go to the delivery of something spectacular - it will be spectacular."

He insisted the Olympics remain on course and believes the Games have support across the political spectrum.

On Wednesday the London 2012 mascots, one for the Olympics and one for the Paralympics, will be revealed on the One Show on BBC One.

The mascots will reflect Britain's Games history, dating back to the London Olympics of 1908 and 1948 and Stoke Mandeville in 1948, the first Paralympics.