Warrington,November 2019-(Amanjit Singh Khaira)-
Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell today (7th November) has announced Labour’s pledge to create a new £150 billion fund, to be spent in the first five years of a Labour government, to upgrade schools, hospitals, care homes and council houses.
This money will be divided up by a National Transformation Fund unit of the Treasury, based in the north, ensuring that key decisions about investment in that part of the country are made there. This powerful section of the Treasury will be supported by local bodies for each of England’s regions, with funds ring-fenced for infrastructure projects decided and developed at a local level.
Faisal Rashid, Labour Parliamentary Candidate for Warrington South, said:
“I am thrilled by our plans to finally provide the North with the investment it so desperately needs.
“If Britain is to compete on the global stage, closing the gap between the North and South is critical. Britain suffers from the worst regional inequality in Western Europe – this simply isn’t good enough. Under a Labour Government, we will see decades of neglect reversed.
“In Warrington, we have had years of underinvestment and outright dishonesty from this Conservative Government. Parts of our hospital are over 100 years old. Our local foodbank is doubling its size. Local transport links are costly and unfit for purpose. It’s time for real change.
“Only by returning power to the North can we ensure a fair settlement for decades to come. By redistributing power and decision-making away from London, we can deliver the real change we need by putting power into the hands of the people who know their local area best. That’s why these plans are so transformative and will reverse the tired, broken model of Government that ordinary people are so fed up with.”
John McDonnell, Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer, said:
“Our aim as a Labour government is to achieve what past Labour governments have aspired to. An irreversible shift in the balance of power and wealth in favour of working people. That means change means investment on a scale never seen before in this country and certainly never seen before in the North and outside of London and the South East.
“To achieve that objective also requires therefore an irreversible shift in the centre of gravity in political decision making and investment in this country from its location solely in London into the North and regions and nations of our country.”
“It won’t just be public investment, of course. We can’t do it if the private finance sector isn’t pulling its weight too. So the days of the City dictating terms to the rest of the country are over.
“The centre of gravity of political gravity is shifting away from London. This is where the investment is needed and this is where those decisions on investment need to be made on the ground. Power is coming home. Back to the people.”
