Londoners 'too lazy' to host the Olympics

Londoners have been branded "too lazy" to work on the 2012 Olympics.

In an astonishing attack, they were accused of lacking skills and education and of aspiring simply to "get a council home" rather than make the most of opportunities provided by the London Games.

The outburst was by Labour mayor Sir Robin Wales who said people in Newham struggled to get out of bed by 11am as they were so used to being unemployed.

Sir Robin said he was "sick" of seeing large numbers of people wasting their lives on unemployment or incapacity benefits and warned that a huge effort would be needed to ensure the promised jobs bonanza for his borough materialised.

Sir Robin, whose Newham borough contains the main Olympic sites, made his comments at a conference organised by the Commission for Racial Equality.

The mayor said he was optimistic about the potential for regeneration the Games could bring, but warned that significant numbers of his borough's residents were ill-equipped for jobs that would be available.

This was because they were locked into a lifestyle, often going back generations, of doing badly at school and then living on benefits. Unless a concerted effort was made to tackle this, Olympic employers would look elsewhere for workers.

"They won't get the jobs because they aren't ready for them. They haven't got the skills, haven't got the training and they can't afford to lose the benefits," said Sir Robin. "I have people who aspire to a council house. There are also people who won't come in for work even at 11 o'clock."

Although the problems were spread across racial groups, the worst levels of unemployment and skills in Newham, which has a 60 per cent ethnic minority population, were among white residents.

Sir Robin said the answer was to encourage employers to take on the unemployed and provide them with training and long term prospects.

Benefit cuts might also be needed to tackle those uninterested in working.

David Higgins, head of the Olympic Delivery Authority, who was sitting alongside Sir Robin, said every effort would be made to ensure as many local residents as possible were employed.