Budget Resolutions and Economic Situation

Sara Britcliffe Excerpts
Tuesday 9th March 2021

(3 years, 9 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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Sara Britcliffe Portrait Sara Britcliffe (Hyndburn) (Con)
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I draw the House’s attention to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests.

In the most difficult economic circumstances we have faced for generations, the Chancellor has struck a careful balance between the difficult and necessary measures to recover our public finances from covid-19 and the need to protect the most vulnerable and the lowest-paid in society. From the support for businesses, the freezing of alcohol duty, the super deduction—my brilliant business of Emerson and Renwick told me this week that it was welcome news—to the continuation of the universal credit uplift, this Budget truly is a road map to recovery. This comes just after Hyndburn received £2.3 million from the Government from the public sector de- carbonisation scheme, which I called for very early on in my term, when we looked at our economic recovery and a green one to give Hyndburn and Haslingden the incentive to be at the heart of it—secured.

There is one aspect of the Budget I would particularly like to place a focus on today, and that is the levelling up fund. As many hon. and right hon. Members may know, my area has historically struggled to attract investment and has not been given the opportunities it has deserved. I was elected to change that. That is why the levelling up fund is so transformative for my area. I have spent a long time campaigning for the regeneration of my local high streets and for significant investment to be made in our town centres. The Prime Minister has supported my campaign and on a recent visit he reaffirmed that. The Budget begins to truly deliver on this not in the form of some temporary handout, as we have seen from previous Labour Governments, who have failed to invest in my area, but as an important part of building prosperity in our region.

With the whole of Hyndburn and Haslingden in the highest category for accessing the levelling up fund, we are now near the front of the queue for accessing this money. That means our chance to transform our area has now come. We need to work together to develop the bid and to ensure that the £125,000 is used most effectively. On top of this, Rossendale has been given extra funding from the community renewal fund. When I speak to residents in Haslingden, the same message is repeated, which is that they have been forgotten about and left behind. I want to change that and I urge Rossendale council to make sure that this is not the case any more.

I was sent to Westminster in December 2019 to make sure that our local voices were heard in Government. By lobbying the Chancellor and the Prime Minister, I have done all that I can to get our area into the priority group for investment and to get money to support it in putting forward a bid to the Government, which is what has been secured. Now it is time for our local councils to make sure that they truly take up this opportunity and develop a successful bid, so that we can make sure that our once forgotten towns truly are forgotten no more. I can certainly assure my residents that, while I am here, that certainly will not be done by me.