By Daphne Dimopoulos at the RSA

This was the question that five prominent speakerss on the matter tried to answer last night at a debate held in London’s Royal Society of Arts.

MP Tessa Jowell, Minister for the Olympics and London, Will Self, Evening Standard Columnist and Author, MP Kate Hoey, Commissioner for Sport, Andrew Gilligan, Evening Standard Columnist and Lord Sebastian Coe, Chair of London 2012 were there to discuss with the audience the benefit or detriment that the Olympic Games may bring to London in 2012.

On the eve of this year’s Olympic Games in Beijing, London is starting to become restless on the matter. The considerable rise of the Games’ budget from £2,4 billion to £9.3 billion together with the oncoming closure of major London parks such as Greenwich and Regent parks, the public is wondering whether it is all worth it.

The main arguments against London hosting the Games in four years time were raised by Will Self and Andrew Gilligan. The effect that this type of expenditure would have on the Londoner taxpayer, Gilligan referred to past experience’s proving to be harmful for host cities leaving them into large debts. “Empirical experience has shown that Olympic Games are a fraud” Gilligan said.

The reply came from Tessa Jowell and Lord Sebastian Coe who both emphasised the importance of the re-generation that will derive from such expenditure. The facilities that are being constructed as well as the improvements that will happen, such as the upgrade of the Jubilee Line for example, are works that will assist the city long after the Games are over, they said.

They both also underlined the need to lure younger generations into sport and stressed how the Olympic Games and all the sport facilities that go with, are the perfect opportunity for young people to get involved into athletics. “London is a third world city in sports” Lord Coe said, and it is time to change that.

The most embarrassing moment for the Olympic Games’ defenders came when Gilligan highlighted a financial error that brought down a whole argument. Tessa Jowell, during her speech mentioned that Londoners should keep in mind that every 75 pence of every pound spent on the Olympic Games goes to re-generation purposes. Yet, Gilligan corrected her by saying that according to the budget’s attribution a total amount of £1,7 billion is spent on re-generation which makes 18 pence of every pound, not 75.

Regardless, Jowell kept her line of argument. She said that “the Games are not just for London, they are for the whole of the UK and when they come they will be just great”.

The debate was organised by the Evening Standard and YouGovStone.