Speech given by Tessa Jowell, Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport at the London 2012 press conference

We're here today to celebrate a big milestone in the journey to Singapore and the final announcement of the host city for the 2012 Games.

London, as you will see today, has a bid that we can be proud of and all of us – Government, London, and the BOA – are truly grateful for the vision, technical skills and sheer hard yards 2012 has put in.

Bidding for the Olympics is a statement of ambition and aspiration.

Of course, life is easier living in the comfort zone, avoiding these great challenges for fear of failure.

But that's not how the people of our country or the people of London are.

Bidding for the 2012 Games is one of the clearest possible ways of saying we are ambitious, we are optimistic, we are proud and we can be the best.

But confidence also resides in the sheer technical excellence of this bid.

The IOC rightly insists on a new kind of financial discipline.

The Olympic ideal cannot be sustained on cost overruns and a legacy of white elephants.

That is why our bid is built on solid, unsentimental calculations of cost and benefits that have withstood the scrutiny of accountants, and in so doing provide a platform for the values and dreams that are the stuff of sport.

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We may be at the heart of Europe's largest financial centre.

But all the accountants in the world can't give you the all explanation for why getting the Games will be good for London, good for Britain and good for sport.

Sport is about more than numbers. It's about enriching the lives of real people, people with hopes and dreams, ambitious for themselves, their families, their city and their country.

We recognise that in our Bid. We want to feed the natural optimism people feel about their city, their country and their sport.

They want to believe that we are a can-do nation.

And we want to harness that energy. Energy for change. Energy to be better than we are now.

So our ambition and our hope today is for a London Olympics in 2012 but they will also be Great Britain's Olympics.

The volunteers, an estimated 70,000 of them, will come from all over the country.

Spectators, who want to be a part of a once in a lifetime experience, will come from all over the country.

Training camps for visiting teams will be established all over the country.

Business contracts and tourism will benefit the whole of the country.

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No bid, however brilliant, can succeed without the backing of its Government.

One of the great strengths of our bid is the unequivocal backing of everyone in Government, from the Prime Minister, the Cabinet, Ministers in Departments across Whitehall, all set to seize every opportunity to promote our bid to Britain and the world now we are free to do so.

If we win the Bid we will hit the ground running.

Strong staging structures, already planned.

Land acquisition already underway.

Planning permission for the Olympic Park already obtained.

Secure funding with a new Olympic Lottery Game on the statute book and ready to go.

This will be the next generation Games – Games that this generation is determined to deliver with style and skill.

If we win it will be the biggest boost to sport that Britain will ever have experienced.

Everyone here is an ambassador for the Bid, for sport, or for London.

We have a Bid to be proud of. We have the will to win. So now, let's bring the Olympics to Britain.

Let's make Britain proud.

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