Budget Resolutions

James Daly Excerpts

Wednesday 27th October 2021 Commons Chamber

[James Daly (Bury North) (Con)]

Having sat here for six hours, I am running out of unique points to make. Rather than following in the footsteps of illustrious colleagues who made fine, analytical arguments on the Budget in its widest sense, I have been asking myself what it will mean for the ordinary person I represent in Bury.

Three or four days ago it was announced that Greater Manchester will receive more than £1 billion of funding to transform our transport infrastructure. Today the metropolitan borough of Bury, which is made up of two parliamentary constituencies, was successful with two levelling-up fund applications. Both were for £20 million, one to transform Radcliffe, a fine town in the constituency of my hon. Friend the Member for Bury South (Christian Wakeford), and one to transform the world’s best market, Bury market, which as you know, Madam Deputy Speaker, has the finest purveyors of black pudding. I have been working with my local Labour council and national Government to put forward a vision of how such an iconic part of our history and heritage in Bury can be used to transform and regenerate the town centre, to create employment and to provide a hub for mental health and health services.

In the last week people in the metropolitan borough of Bury, on those three announcements alone, have received more than £100 million of funding, from which we are getting a new interchange, better bus services and better tram services, as well as more employment and the regeneration of our town centres. Anyone looking at the Budget will therefore say it is a fantastic Budget that will transform opportunities and do something that politics has not done for a long time. It not only provides the fiscal policies that allow the general economy to prosper but is changing landscapes in front of us and reinforcing our pride in our areas. I thoroughly support every announcement that the Chancellor made today.

I fully support the cut to beer duty, in respect of which I want to make one point. The big four pub companies in this country account for 25% of the total number of pubs. Pubs are disappearing at an alarming rate throughout the country. All Conservative Members, and I suspect even Labour Members, support the reductions in duty, which are clearly welcomed and will benefit the industry. I gently encourage my friends on the Front Bench to think about this problem, though: the profit will go to the pub companies, in the main. Often, the contractual and leasehold arrangements that they have with their tenants in the pubs in all our constituencies make it financially unviable for the pubs to succeed, no matter what steps are taken in respect of tax. I hope that is taken into consideration.

Let me go back to Bury and how the Budget will improve lives. I am the chair of the all-party parliamentary group on youth employment, and I welcome the announcements on skills and further funding. I do not have time to go over them all, but I do know how the investments that have been previously announced are affecting my constituents. Last week, planning permission was given for a £6 million health, innovation and STEM centre, which will teach new skills and provide new facilities and training opportunities for young people in Bury. It is not simply about the numbers; when I sit in the Chamber, I sometimes think how important it is that we personalise things. We have to demand and think about outcomes, not just amounts of money, and the Government are putting in place policies in that regard.

I wish to speak in support of a lot of my hon. Friends who have talked about the positive and optimistic nature of the Budget. Last week, I talked to the headteacher of Derby High School, a fine high school in my constituency. She was full of ambition and ways to improve the delivery of education for students at the school, but the building is completely unacceptable for that and needs investment. The Budget offers a way for investment to be put in. We will have more new schools and more educational support, so that schools like the Derby know that the Government are going to back them with not only increased funding in the schools budget but the facilities that pupils in my Bury constituency will hopefully enjoy.

Whenever I look at Budgets, I cannot escape my 10 years as a councillor. Whenever I see the word “pothole” in anything, I get very excited, and there is £8 billion in pothole funding. My hon. Friend the Member for Aylesbury (Rob Butler) probably thinks the same thing. At its basic level, politics is about the things people see when they walk out the front door. If there is a pothole, people want it to be fixed. People want roads to be in such a condition that they can drive down them safely and appropriately. People want transport infrastructure in Bury. They want good schools that can be improved. They want better hospitals. That is what the Budget will deliver in areas such as mine and throughout the country. It is a fantastic Budget.

The Budget also opens up opportunities for technological advances. Last week, I visited the East Lancashire Railway in my constituency. Bury is known for many things and is a unique place, but one fine example is the steam railway. We have the longest continually used locomotive shed in existence—we have been fixing steam-railway locomotives in Bury since 1860—and although the House cannot see it, it is the most amazing place to go into. When we consider the skills agenda, there are obviously the high-tech jobs, the green jobs and all the other things that the Chancellor talked about, but there are also other innovative sectors. There is too much work for the East Lancashire Railway: we have to invest in that site so that we can carry out the renovations that are needed and preserve part of our national heritage. The railway is looking for £10 million of investment to transform that site so that it can provide more apprenticeships and opportunities and create the sense of pride in place that is at the heart of a lot of the Government’s policies.

The Budget invests in Bury people and in the infra- structure necessary for our economy to prosper, and it will put more money into the frontline services that we all need. I was delighted about the investment in special educational needs services—I know that the hon. Member for Sheffield, Hallam (Olivia Blake) is very passionate about this. Whether we as a Parliament succeed in levelling up this country will depend on our creating equality of opportunity for those with special educational needs to have the best chance to thrive and succeed. It is a credit to the Chief Secretary to the Treasury and to this Government that money is going into that area. Again, it is about how that money is delivered on the ground—£100 million, £200 million or £300 million are just numbers on a piece of paper. We have to think about the delivery model at a local level.

I have been speaking with the fantastic headteacher at Elms Bank School in my constituency, and we believe that the best model for delivering SEN provision in our area is through an SEN hub—a lifelong hub where we have the integrated commissioning of services in one place to support people not only on their educational journey, but with mental health support and employment support. One comment that was made was that the pandemic has shown that the delivery of services at a local level can be done in an innovative way to ensure that we are delivering these important levelling-up provisions in the best way. Certainly in Bury, the creation of hubs has been excellent.

I am tempted to speak about Bury for a lot longer. There is much to be said about the place, but I prefer to say this: as the last person to speak in this debate, I can say that I have listened to all the contributions from those on the Opposition Benches and that what they say is not logical. We are investing billions of pounds in frontline services and billions of pounds in the most vulnerable people. By cutting taxes, we are providing the conditions for businesses to thrive. I refer to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests—I am a practising solicitor and have my own business. What has been announced today supports employers like me. It is supporting people to deliver more jobs on the ground, supporting skills, and providing the opportunities for the future. I know that there is political knockabout and that perhaps people say things because they have to do so, but I am so proud of our Government. We are delivering on our central mantra of levelling up for every single person no matter their background, no matter their circumstances, and no matter where they are from. People have an equal chance to have a happy, fulfilling life, and that is what this Budget is about. It is a fantastic Budget, and I congratulate my right hon. Friend the Chief Secretary to the Treasury.

Ordered, That the debate be now adjourned.—(Scott Mann.)

Debate to be resumed tomorrow.