South-west England (Long-term Economic Plan)
Debate between Simon Hoare and Liam Fox
Dr Fox
I am sure that is absolutely right. One thing we have to do across the region is ensure that the prosperity in the wealthier parts of the south-west is more evenly spread across the region. I am thinking, for example, about the tech clusters around Bristol. In my constituency, unemployment is now below 0.5%, and we need to ensure that many of the high-tech jobs we have are spread more widely, right across the south-west peninsula, rather than being concentrated around the big cities.
Simon Hoare (North Dorset) (Con)
Does my right hon. Friend agree that there is a key role to play for local government and our district councils, through the planning process? If they can speed up decisions on planning applications that create jobs and opportunity, the growth will come faster.
Dr Fox
Indeed, and I would add that we need co-operation among local authorities. Where we can get good, functional local government clusters, things work well. The one thing I would say to the Minister is that we do not want to push our luck where we have local authorities co-operating and working well together; we do not need to see a change in the organisational structure that would only be expensive and bureaucratic. Where it is working already, we should leave well alone—that is a very good Conservative principle.
One common thread that runs between us is that the economic welfare of the south-west is very closely linked to the transport infrastructure. The new large group of Conservative south-west MPs will be putting that transport infrastructure at the very front of what we intend to do.