Pride in Place

Debate between Miatta Fahnbulleh and Ashley Fox

Wednesday 15th October 2025 Commons Chamber

[Miatta Fahnbulleh]

My hon. Friend is completely right. The opportunity to invest through this in local community services and youth services is absolutely huge, and putting local mums in the driving seat is always a good thing.

[Sir Ashley Fox (Bridgwater) (Con)]

I welcome the fact that south Bridgwater has been included in this programme. These funds come on top of the £23 million allocated to Bridgwater under the last Government’s town deal. Parts of Highbridge in my constituency are equally deserving of funding, so can the Minister advise whether there will be any further rounds of allocating funding in this Parliament?

[Miatta Fahnbulleh]

I think the hon. Gentleman is asking me to do the Chancellor’s job, which I shall not be able to do. We think that this is an exciting way of investing in our communities, and that there is a huge opportunity for us to leverage in additional investment. We are very keen to talk to social impact investors and philanthropists about how we can invest. There is also a lot of interest among the business community—local businesses and business improvement districts—in bringing this together. If we get this right and the funding in place leverages in additional funding, we will have shown that this is a way of operating that we can then roll out across the country.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Miatta Fahnbulleh and Ashley Fox

Tuesday 4th February 2025 Commons Chamber

[Miatta Fahnbulleh]

The hon. Member explains exactly why we need to wean ourselves off fossil fuel markets. That is why it is critical that we deliver clean power by 2030—that is the central mission of this team, and we are running at it. The Scottish Government do have the levers to protect households in fuel poverty. Before the hon. Member criticises us, they should get their house in order and get on with the job.

[Sir Ashley Fox (Bridgwater) (Con)]

Prior to the election, the Secretary of State promised to cut my constituents’ energy bills by £300. Would the Minister repeat that promise at the Dispatch Box?

[Miatta Fahnbulleh]

We have a manifesto commitment to reduce energy bills by £300. We are doing everything we can. We have a legacy of record high energy bills. We are running at clean power because we think that is the route to delivering lower energy costs. We are upgrading people’s homes because we know that is the route to delivering homes that are warmer and cleaner to run. We are doing everything we can. The Conservative party oversaw a crisis for households, so before its Members start lecturing us on what we should do, they should be hanging their heads in shame.