Oral Answers to Questions

Jonathan Gullis Excerpts

Wednesday 28th February 2024 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

The hon. Lady might want to check some of the facts that she just outlined to the House; they are not quite right. Perhaps she would like to explain to the country why her party is stuck with a completely incoherent energy policy that will saddle working families with £28 billion of higher tax rises and higher energy bills.

[Jonathan Gullis (Stoke-on-Trent North) (Con)]

Q12. Since 2019, the Prime Minister has had our backs in Stoke-on-Trent North, Kidsgrove and Talke, with record funding for our local transport, over £200 million for Stoke and Staffordshire to repair potholes, over £30 million to improve our bus network with cheaper fares and new and extended routes, funding to upgrade Kidsgrove and Stoke-on-Trent railway stations and bringing back the Stoke to Leek line—and this week Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire have seen a tenfold increase in transport funding year in, year out. I know the Opposition like to talk down Stoke-on-Trent North, Kidsgrove and Talke, but isn’t it true that this Prime Minister and this Conservative party are the only ones with a plan to improve and better connect our communities and fix our broken roads and pavements?

[The Prime Minister]

As ever, my hon. Friend is a fantastic champion for Stoke-on-Trent, and he is right: over the next several years, his area will receive 10 times as much as it currently does to invest in local transport schemes as a result of this Government’s decision on HS2. But he is also right to say that after years of being neglected by the party opposite, it is this Conservative Government that are levelling up across the country and in Stoke-on-Trent, championed by fantastic MPs like him.