Foreigners flock to Olympic jobs as MPs lobby for cost-cutting

British workers could be losing out on jobs at the Olympics, with more than 50,000 migrant workers registering for work in the borough that will host the Games.

Newham has seen the number of new National Insurance numbers surge more than any part of Britain since the Games were awarded to London in 2005.

And most of the workers are coming from eastern Europe and the Baltic states, according to the Daily Telegraph.

Labour MP Frank Field said it seemed the benefits of the Olympics were going abroad, despite promises the Games would benefit local employment.

“The extraordinary number of National Insurance registrations in Newham suggests it is not providing much additional employment for British people,” he said.

The criticism came as Olympic minister Tessa Jowell fought to explain her comments that the government would not have bid for the Olympics if it knew a recession was coming.

In defence, Ms Jowell said: “What I was reflecting was that had we known that the economy was going to a downturn, the perception of some people would have been that the Olympics would have been a distraction and not a solution to this central problem.”

Field suggested the recession might allow 2012 officials to drive down the £9.4bn budget.

“It must now be perfectly reasonable for the government to strike a much harder bargain on contracts to reduce the cost,” he told the newspaper.

“It should not be £9.4bn. It should come in much lower as we know there are hardly any orders being placed in the construction world.”