Josh Babarinde
Main Page: Josh Babarinde (Liberal Democrat - Eastbourne)Department Debates - View all Josh Babarinde's debates with the HM Treasury
(3 days, 8 hours ago)
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Rachel Reeves
My hon. Friend has spoken to me powerfully on many occasions about how much Westminster city council has to spend on temporary accommodation, which is why the investment in affordable homes grants is so important—and not just for London, but for the whole country—but there are specific issues. As I said in answer to my hon. Friend the Member for Vauxhall and Camberwell Green (Florence Eshalomi), there are particular challenges in London because of the extraordinarily high house prices and rents. This investment in affordable and social housing can have a big impact in London. Combined with the additional money for free school meals, the roll-out of breakfast clubs and the increase in the national living wage, this is a spending review to benefit people across the whole country, including in Westminster and London.
Josh Babarinde (Eastbourne) (LD)
Fellow Eastbournian Mark Tonra and I were gravely ill together in the same ward at Eastbourne district general hospital last year. Harrowingly, because of the outdated and outgrown hospital buildings at the DGH, Mark watched from his bay as a patient opposite him died, and other patients watched Mark deteriorate, with only a flimsy curtain to protect his dignity, before he himself died. The delay to our new hospital will mean that many more Eastbournians will face this indignity until it is fully rebuilt come 2041. Short of heeding my town’s calls to unlock that investment sooner, will the Chancellor at least confirm to local families such as Mark’s and to my NHS trust that her NHS capital expenditure will specifically be able to fund the 98% unmet cost of our maintenance backlog in Eastbourne to help more patients get the care and dignity they deserve?
Rachel Reeves
I thank the hon. Gentleman for speaking powerfully about his experience and the experience of his constituents. After the 14 years and the broken promises of the Conservative party, our hospitals are not in a good enough condition. That is why we have set out the new hospital buildings programme, but it is also why we have put aside money in the spending review for improvements to hospital conditions in the meantime. I will make sure that the relevant Health Minister meets him to talk through what that means for people in Eastbourne.