Oral Answers to Questions

Esther McVey Excerpts

Tuesday 24th October 2017 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

I hope that the whole House will join me in congratulating very warmly the right hon. Member for Tatton (Ms McVey) on her significant birthday today.

[Ms Esther McVey (Tatton) (Con)]

I am older and, I hope, wiser. Like all the ladies who are at my age, I am just hitting my stride and coming of age.

[Ms Esther McVey (Tatton) (Con)]

9. What investment his Department has provided for transport infrastructure projects in Cheshire in the last 12 months.

[The Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury (Andrew Jones)]

I wish my right hon. Friend many happy returns of the day.

I confirm that the Government are taking big decisions for Britain’s future and investing in transport infrastructure in Cheshire and across the north. Just last week, my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Transport announced road investment of £65 million in Cheshire. That included £18 million of funding for five different local road schemes and £47 million for the Middlewich bypass. That is on top of improvements that the Government are already making to the M6, M62 and M56.

[Ms McVey]

I welcome the Minister’s reply. The Cheshire and Warrington local enterprise partnership has a bold agenda for increasing business in Tatton and Chester. The local plan has an equally bold agenda for increasing the number of houses, which will bring money to the Exchequer and help to meet the country’s housing need, but we have a significant need for the mid-Cheshire rail line. May I ask the Chancellor and his team to look at that for the forthcoming Budget?

[Andrew Jones]

I will take that as a Budget representation. The basic point is that we are clearly very ambitious to unlock, through transport investment, both residential and commercial opportunity. That has been a feature of Government policies over the past few years, and I am sure that it will continue to be.