Business of the House

Alex Ballinger Excerpts

Thursday 25th July 2024 Commons Chamber

[Lucy Powell]

I thank my hon. Friend for that important point. The Government absolutely stand steadfast against all hatred, antisemitism and Islamophobia, which unfortunately we have seen on the rise in recent months. He will be aware that Home Office questions, a good place to raise these matters, will take place next week. He might want to raise them with the Home Secretary then.

[Alex Ballinger (Halesowen) (Lab)]

Town centres in constituencies such as mine have increasingly struggled over the last 14 years, so I was pleased to see measures in the King’s Speech to support our high streets. Businesses in my constituency are also interested in an update on the levelling-up fund for Halesowen town centre regeneration, which was promised by the previous Government, so can we have a debate on how we support our high streets?

[Lucy Powell]

I am sure that my hon. Friend’s constituents will thank him greatly for raising the matter. The Government are giving careful consideration to a number of levelling-up grants that we are keen to follow through on. He will be aware, though, that the difficult economic situation that we have inherited is much worse than we foresaw. The funding was not actually there for a number of the previous Government’s commitments, but this Government will do our very best to support places like Halesowen with the additional funding that they need.