Budget Resolutions

Paul Bristow Excerpts

Monday 1st November 2021 Commons Chamber

[Paul Bristow (Peterborough) (Con)]

Last week was significant for me: I got married—[Hon. Members: “Hooray!”]—and the Chancellor gave Peterborough £20 million in his Budget. As wedding presents go, it was a pretty big one.

To be strictly accurate, my wife and I finally got to hold our wedding ceremony. We had managed to get the legal bit done just before the pandemic, but then we had to wait. In fact, our wait was long enough for the Government to launch their levelling up fund and to identify Peterborough as a priority area, for me to work with Peterborough City Council and others to develop our bid, and for the council to submit the bid back in June.

I listened to the announcements, and the Chancellor had plenty of good news for Peterborough, including a cash uplift of £1,500 per pupil for our schools and freezing fuel duty for the 12th year in a row. The announcements kept coming, with a £2 billion tax cut for working universal credit claimants, making work pay; a 6.6% increase in the national living wage; much-needed support for Peterborough’s pubs; and help on business rates for 90% of our city’s venues.

But there was one thing that I was desperate to know: had we got the levelling up money? Our bid was ambitious. For those who do not know, we are developing a new university. I was shocked to hear some Opposition Members speak about the Government not investing in skills and research because the university is not any old university, but one that specialises in science, technology, engineering and maths subjects, and is linked directly to local employers. The first stages are through planning, building is under way and partners are on board. Our university project has already benefited from generous Government support, but the levelling up submission was on another level.

The application underpinned our plans to expand the new university, bring investment to the city and deliver an amazing living lab science block and an entire university quarter cultural hub. Hon. Members have to visualise it to get the points: extra teaching space, innovation and research facilities, 1,700 local students studying in STEM fields, all open to the public and attracting up to 50,000 visitors a year, and all relying on my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer.

I got hold of the Red Book and leafed through many pages. When I reached page 78, I saw what I wanted. There, proudly listed, was Peterborough. That is fantastic news for my city. The £20 million—the first tranche of levelling up allocations—will transform my city and we are raring to go. One reason Peterborough got the cash was our ability to complete construction by 2024. That is less time spent building the facilities than it took me to get married. I say without hesitation that last week’s levelling up funding was the best wedding present I could possibly have received.