Fighting for Heywood, Middleton and Rochdale – my verdict on the Chancellor’s Spring Statement
Many of you reading this will know that some of my main priorities as your Member of Parliament are to:
- Secure better transport connectivity for the people of Heywood and Middleton North;
- Bring about fairness, parity and access for my constituents so that they can build careers and contribute to the regional economy;
- Ensure that people across our communities have access to the best public services in terms of schools, healthcare, leisure and cultural offers and other crucial amenities.
To bring about the change we need to see across our country and support working people, we have to bring stability to the public finances and invest in the future we need.
For the Chancellor, the technical changes she can manage are based on the Labour Party’s fiscal rules – which means we can avoid the chaos of the Tories and Liz Truss-style finances.
Today Rachel Reeves spoke about providing headroom (more money to invest, or prepare for emergencies) and meeting the Government’s stability and investment rules two years early.
The Chancellor ruled out new tax rises for working people. This week’s announcements also focussed on renewal in Greater Manchester and investment to fix things that matter to us – like affordable housing and potholes.
No government can deliver growth, improvements in living standards or national renewal alone – they need to work in tandem with empowered and effective regional champions – like our Mayor and leaders across Greater Manchester. It is critical that local people get a say in how money is spent, how the economy develops and how we address common challenges.
That is why the Chancellor has announced today a strategic partnership between the Government’s National Wealth Fund and Greater Manchester to help our city region develop and secure long-term investment opportunities. This is critical when it comes to expanding the role of my constituency in the regional economy, levelling the playing field for communities like ours – that have gone too long without investment – and giving local people a prominent voice in the decisions which will affect them.
Another important focus of the Statement is getting Britain building by streamlining planning processes and unlocking a new scale of housing and critical infrastructure. The Chancellor announced an additional £2 billion for social and affordable housing. This investment will deliver up to 18,000 new homes and will help unlock development on sites that are ready to go in areas such as Greater Manchester.
But there is still more to do.
I welcome the Chancellor’s statement today and I aim to ensure that Heywood and Middleton North benefits from a growing economy. We are all focussed on the difficult decisions to make Britain stable and secure again. As that happens, I want to see the changes we need to support and favour towns like ours and give Greater Manchester the authority to shape the economy for our benefit.