• Boris Johnson visited the far South West this week, his first appearance in the region as Prime Minister
• He made a number of unsubstantiated spending pledges
• Luke Pollard responded, pointing out that we had heard the same from his predecessors and nothing has come of it

Commenting on Boris Johnson’s trip to the South West today, Luke Pollard, MP for Plymouth Sutton and Devonport, said:

“The South West needs proper funding for our public services, not more promises of jam tomorrow.

“David Cameron and Theresa May all made similar promises to the South West that Boris Johnson has just made today. And yet, our kids are still worth £300 less per child than the national average when it comes to education spending, our NHS and Social Care system is in crisis, and there is still not enough money allocated to finish the Dawlish rail resilience work.

“Labour’s plan is to fully fund Dawlish’s rail improvements, increase education spending and end the privatisation of our National Health Service. We’ve set out exactly where the money’s going to come from in our manifesto. Boris Johnson simply can’t tell us how he’s going to pay for all of this.

“If we can even begin to take Boris seriously, we need to see the pound signs, not just the press releases.”