Business of the House

David Drew Excerpts

Thursday 4th July 2019 Commons Chamber

[Mel Stride]

It is slightly surprising that the hon. Gentleman should continue to push on the issue of our commitment to the north in terms of expenditure, because the Mayor of Greater Manchester said:

“There is a tendency to be London-centric in the Labour Party and that tendency needs to be constantly challenged.”

That is why we, as a Government, have injected £13 billion —a record level—into better transport throughout the north, and why we as a party have planned central Government transport investment over the next three years that will be, as I said, higher in the north than in the south, on a per capita basis. We have also committed to more than £5 billion through devolution and growth deals.

[Dr David Drew (Stroud) (Lab/Co-op)]

With the ongoing dispute at the Environment Agency over pay and with staff morale at Natural England being at an all-time low, will the Leader of the House organise an urgent debate on the relationship between the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and its key agencies, so that we can look at how it deals with its workforce issues?

[Mel Stride]

I think that that may lend itself particularly to an Adjournment debate. If the hon. Gentleman would like to drop me a line, I will make sure that I am supportive of any such request that he may decide to make.