Budget Resolutions

Alexander Stafford Excerpts

Monday 1st November 2021 Commons Chamber

[Alexander Stafford (Rother Valley) (Con)]

It is a pleasure to take part in this great debate on the Budget, which gets to the heart of what this Government do —levelling up. Levelling up is so important for Rother Valley and the people living in my constituency. There has been debate about what levelling up is. To me, it is about creating opportunities. It is about the job creation and wealth that we deserve in the north, which other places in the south have historically had.

I often think we should treat levelling up as we would treat a natural disaster. We need that emergency aid pumped in—the short, sharp injection of cash—but, more importantly, once the cameras have gone, we need the long-term support of aid for skills and training. Some of my constituents have said that Rother Valley is a bit like a natural disaster, having been ruled by Labour for 101 years, but, at last, this Government, with the Chinook helicopters flying over, is coming to the aid of levelling up in Rother Valley.

I welcome this move, looking at both the short-term and long-term funding. I am incredibly pleased that this Government are investing in Rother Valley. With Rother Valley and Rotherham council, we put in two bids for the levelling up fund—divided bids, but bids that would cover levelling up—to cover both the short, sharp measures and the long-term growth measures that we needed. That follows my 2,000-person parliamentary petition, my Adjournment debate on levelling up, and the other work I have done convincing Rotherham council to invest in our area.

I am pleased to say that one of those bids was successful; we have a £4.5 million grant for Maltby Academy, which will create an incubator space for skills and apprenticeships. The Gulliver’s Valley skills village will create training and areas of accreditation in hospitality, creating jobs, and Rother Valley Country Park will be overhauled to help to create new jobs and new leisure receipts in the area.

Those are the overarching measures we need to create long-term growth. Skills and jobs: that is what the £11 million levelling up pot does for Rother Valley, and I am incredibly pleased. It is on top of all the other measures the Government have announced on long-term skills and the desire to create more jobs, whether that is the £570 million given to South Yorkshire for much-needed transport, or cutting the taper rate by 8%. That is putting more money in people’s pockets, showing them that the Conservative Government is on the workers’ side. Only by getting jobs and prosperity can we level up our areas, and this Government are doing that.

However, I must say I am mildly disappointed that our bid for £9 million for Dinnington High Street was not successful. For me, that would be the much-needed short, sharp injection of cash to the high street. When the then Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, in charge of levelling up—my right hon. Friend the Member for Newark (Robert Jenrick) —toured Dinnington High Street with me, he witnessed the burnt-out building opposite my office. I noted in the prospectus for the levelling-up fund that there was even talk of using the money to get rid of burnt-out buildings. The fund is designed for areas such as Dinnington in Rother Valley. So I hope that, in spring, working with the Dinnington Land Trust and Dinnington’s council, Rotherham’s council will put in an even stronger bid for that money. I know that I have great guarantees already from this Government that we have had one bite of the cherry but there are two more to go. I will be working with this Government to make sure that in the next round our bid for the levelling-up fund is even stronger, so that we can have that money we so need.

Overall, this Budget is giving us long-term measures to help look after areas such as Rother Valley and areas across the north of England. I also make a plea to this Government: do remember those short, sharp injections of cash we need in Rother Valley as well for our high streets, not just in Dinnington, but in Maltby, Thurcroft, Aston, Swallownest and across Rother Valley. Together, we will overturn this natural disaster and improve Rother Valley for everyone.

[Several hon. Members rose—]