More troops on Olympics standby

Another 1,200 troops have been put on standby to provide Olympics security as the fallout from the G4S chaos continued.

Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt said the numbers of staff provided by the company were rising, and there was currently no need to deploy more military personnel.

But he added: "As we have said, we must prepare for every contingency. We are therefore putting an additional 1,200 troops on standby, reducing their notice to move from seven days to 48 hours. They will remain in their current locations but can be called on if we need them during the coming weeks."

"We hope that will not be necessary but this is a sensible precaution," he said.

The Government drafted in an extra 3,500 troops to plug security gaps last week after the scale of G4S's recruitment issues emerged - taking the total military deployment for the Games to 17,000.

There had been reports that an 2,000 more could be needed.

But Mr Hunt said: "Ministers agreed today that there is no current need to deploy any additional troops.

"G4S numbers are rising and we are seeing an improvement in the company's performance, which is to be welcomed.

"There will be other challenges over the coming weeks, but we are confident that we are on track to stage a great Games."