Budget Resolutions

Mike Kane Excerpts

Monday 1st November 2021 Commons Chamber

[Mike Kane (Wythenshawe and Sale East) (Lab)]

The one thing that delighted me about the Secretary of State’s speech is learning that he has been a secret Manchester City fan all these years. I look forward to him joining the all-party group on football, ably chaired by the right hon. Member for Staffordshire Moorlands (Karen Bradley) in the weeks and years to come. However, little else impressed me.

Aviation communities have been particularly hard hit, as we all know. Manchester airport in my constituency is the international gateway to the north. The impact of the pandemic on its operations—going from 28 million passengers to 2.8 million passengers—has been devastating. That has resulted in job losses and significant knock-on impacts on sectors and businesses that support the operation of the airport. There is precious little in the Budget to support those aviation communities up and down the land.

However, in my constituency, we have other wider regeneration opportunities, championed by the local Labour authorities in Manchester City Council and Trafford Borough Council. We have a series of oven-ready schemes to drive genuine regional growth and economic development across Greater Manchester. The airport city masterplan includes the first phase of the Hut Group’s £1 billion business campus, which will support up to 10,000 jobs. A new £250 million hotel district is also gathering pace. Plans for a MediPark at Wythenshawe Hospital are well-advanced, with significant life science and health innovation businesses linked to the hospital and Manchester Airport.

We have also recently completed a masterplan for Wythenshawe Hospital. It is a plan that would: transform the hospital; create a world-class research and health facility; create a sustainable campus; and ensure a diversification of uses. The delivery model proposed for the development of the Wythenshawe Hospital site is for a financially driven, phased construction approach using a blended funding model. This funding solution could leverage in many commercial and health and social-related investment opportunities. However, to realise this, Government support is needed to unlock a technical solution to the current NHS capital regime. We have not stopped there though. There are exciting plans for the levelling-up bids for Wythenshawe and Sale town centres, and we eagerly await news on the timing of round two and the guidance on joint bids.

HS2 and Northern Powerhouse Rail are vital. We need the HS2 station at Manchester airport. Currently, it is unfunded in the proposals. If the Government really want to level up the north, why do they not put spades in the ground going south today? That would certainly help with the levelling-up agenda. We need platforms 15 and 16 across the constricted centre of Manchester to ensure that the northern hub means that train services across the north can operate effectively.

The Office for Budget Responsibility has revealed anaemic medium-term growth forecasts, with growth falling to an average of just 1.5% a year in the last three years of the forecast from 2024 to 2026. We need many things in our constituencies, but the Government’s various regeneration schemes do not come close to making up for the £15 billion of Conservative cuts since 2010. If the Government are serious about levelling up, they should work with Manchester, Greater Manchester and authorities across the north to ensure that we can deliver on the plans that have huge economic and social benefits to our people and our regions.