Levelling-up Fund Round 2

Diana Johnson Excerpts

Thursday 19th January 2023 Commons Chamber

[Lucy Frazer]

The hon. Lady should look at the technical note, which will be published in due course, to see how the assessments were made.

[Dame Diana Johnson (Kingston upon Hull North) (Lab)]

I thank the Minister and her Department for writing to me at 11.30 pm last night, an hour after the information was released to the press, to tell me that Hull City Council’s transport bid had been rejected. The bid was about Hull being the third most congested city in the country, with people waiting, on average, 73 hours a year in traffic jams. Hull has poor air quality and worse traffic than Bangkok and São Paulo. Will she admit for once that, having rejected Hull for the towns fund, the Government have absolutely no interest in levelling up Hull?

[Lucy Frazer]

The Government are very interested in levelling up Hull. There were more than 500 bids, more than we had in the first round, asking for £8 billion to be spent. Unfortunately, we did not have those funds, so only £2 billion could be allocated.