Luke Pollard MP Member of Parliament for Plymouth Sutton and Devonport
It is not clear whether the £5 billion of capital investment outlined is new money or not as we haven’t seen the government’s capital budgets beyond next year or infrastructure strategy. It only provides around £100 per person and does little in the immediate term to reassure the millions claiming UC, the millions facing redundancy as furlough unwinds and the millions of young people leaving education £5bn amounts to just over 0.2% of GDP. Germany’s stimulus package amounted to 3.78% of GDP. The £1bn promised for schools is less than half of the £2.77bn that was cut from capital investment in education last decade. Despite failing to deliver past promises on housebuilding, the PM’s announcement provides no concrete commitments to build the homes we need. There is very little on investing in the renewable energy. Germany promised over £10billion worth of green infrastructure projects alone.2
“With more people in Plymouth losing their jobs every single day we need a proper plan for protecting and creating jobs. I fear Plymouth is facing an unemployment crisis we have not seen since the 1980s. It is that serious. That is why I want next week’s budget to focus on three things: jobs, jobs, jobs.
“The south west does not get our fair share of funding and a few flagship projects may attract headlines but do not make up for a decade of cuts and unfairness. I want to see a long-term plan for investing in our region’s infrastructures from road and rail to homes and hospitals and meaningful investment to deliver it. This Government is better at headlines than delivery and our country cannot afford more dither and delay and certainly not more cuts.”