Wembley delays 'raise major doubts about Olympics'

The Conservatives have called for an investigation into the delays and increased costs of Wembley stadium after a further round of events planned for the venue were cancelled.

The Football Association has announced that its autumn fixtures will no longer be held at the stadium, amid fears the £757 million project will not be ready in time.

It was hoped to be finished in time for May's FA Cup final, but construction delays have led Australian developers Multiplex to put their completion date back to September.

Shadow culture secretary Hugo Swire said the delays had "massive implications" for Britain's plans for the London 2012 Olympics, and said an independent investigation was urgently needed to ensure the lessons of Wembley were learned in time.

"We cannot make the same mistakes again – there is no way that we can postpone the opening ceremony if the stadium isn't ready on time," he said.

"We have heard nothing from the Department of Culture, Media and Sport about the problems at Wembley. We must learn the lessons from what went wrong and the secretary of state must get a grip on this urgently."

He added: "Quite simply, there are lessons to be learnt from the setbacks to date, and a proper investigation is needed to ensure that this happens.

"[Culture secretary] Tessa Jowell should urgently set up an independent review to ensure that we are not faced with the same spiraling costs and long delays when work starts on the stadium and infrastructure for the Olympics."

The government is planning to build a 500-site Olympic park in Stratford, east London, as a focal point for the 2012 Games, which will be made up of nine major venues within walking distance of each other.

At the heart of the project will be an 80,000-seat Olympic stadium to host the opening and closing ceremonies, as well as the athletics events, and there will also be a velopark, a new aquatics centre and an Olympic Village, where the athletes will stay.