Oral Answers to Questions

Gareth Davies Excerpts

Thursday 12th November 2020 Commons Chamber

[Steve Double (St Austell and Newquay) (Con)]

What progress the Government have made on ensuring regional equality of economic opportunity.

[Gareth Davies (Grantham and Stamford) (Con)]

What progress the Government have made on ensuring regional equality of economic opportunity.

[Mark Fletcher (Bolsover) (Con)]

What progress the Government have made on ensuring regional equality of economic opportunity.

--- Later in debate ---

[Amanda Milling]

I thank my hon. Friend for his question about Cornwall. I was delighted to have the chance to support the Cornish economy as part of a south-west visit over the summer, which included visiting him in his seat of St Austell and Newquay. As we said in our manifesto, we will introduce a UK shared prosperity fund that will match at a minimum the current levels of funding to each nation from EU structural funds. The arrangements for the fund will be confirmed following the upcoming spending review.

[Gareth Davies]

In order for us to truly level up, we will need to mobilise billions of pounds of private capital. Does my right hon. Friend agree that, as part of the national infrastructure strategy, we should launch a new financial institution such as a British development bank to make that happen?

[Amanda Milling]

The Government are committed to ensuring that businesses and infrastructure projects continue to have access to the finance they need. The UK has a range of existing tools to support investment, including the UK guarantees scheme. The Government will bring forward further measures to boost investment in UK infrastructure as part of the national infrastructure strategy.