COMMENT: Julian Welcomes Spending Review as Great Result for York
November 25, 2015
Today’s statement from the Chancellor is great news for the country and also for York. It is a testimony to the strong leadership shown by the Conservatives in Government, and I am delighted to see many of the economic forecasts have been revised upwards. The scale of the spending reductions is lower than anticipated by many commentators due to the difficult decisions that were made in the last Parliament to rescue our economy. The next five years will be focused on rebuilding, and this is clearly demonstrated in the extremely positive announcements for York.
I am absolutely delighted that the York Central Teardrop site will now benefit from being a Government-backed Enterprise Zone, unlocking over £100 million of funding which will revitalise our local economy. This funding could deliver over 6000 new jobs and attract much needed inward investment for the city and also deliver homes which will ease the pressure on York’s greenbelt. This is a victory for our Conservative led Council and the Local Enterprise Partnership who have championed the bid that will deliver economic growth, housing and thousands of new jobs.
We also heard that £50 million of new funding will be provided for state-of-the-art agricultural technology centres, two of which will be based in York. I have been campaigning for York to be recognised as a leading centre of scientific research in food and farming for many years. I first lobbied the Farming, Food and Rural Affairs Secretary for a centre of excellence back in 2010 and I am delighted that York now has funding for not one but two centres of world-leading research in livestock health and crop protection.
Across Yorkshire we can make use of our wide variety of farming, from the arable farms in the Vale of York, to the livestock industry in the Dales. Two new Centres of Agricultural Excellence will help York to take a global lead in food and farming research, supporting world leading innovation right through the farming supply chain.
The Chancellor also confirmed that changes will be made to the national education funding formula, something which I have been repeatedly calling for. The current formula is widely regarded as unfair with York the seventh worst-funded local authority in the country. A new ‘national rate’ will be set, with more money available to top up grants for schools that have high numbers of children who are struggling to make progress in class, or who come from poorer families. I am delighted that this long overdue reform will rebalance education funding to give fairer opportunities for all young people.
Many commentators had been predicting that Police budgets were going to be in the firing line, and I am very pleased that the Government has announced that the grants will be maintained in real terms. This news will be welcomed by many in York Outer, and I am very pleased that frontline services are being protected. I also think it is right that police forces should be looking at making further efficiencies by merging their back offices whilst keeping up police numbers on the streets.
This focus on security ties in with the Prime Minister’s earlier announcement in the Strategic Defence and Security Review, which will see a £178 billion investment in defence over the next decade. This will include two new 5,000 personnel strike forces and increasing spending in our intelligence agencies to combat terrorism. It is clear from recent events that security must be at the top of our agenda, and the threat posed by ISIL and other extremists remains an ever present danger. The Chancellor also confirmed that the UK will continue to spend 2% of its GDP on defence, something which I have been vocal on.
It is clear that these announcements have only been made possible by delivering the challenging but necessary reforms to Government spending over the last five years. While difficult decisions must be taken to ensure Britain lives within its means, the Chancellor has been able to invest in our future and protect key frontline services because of our strong economic record. We currently spend £50 billion per year, rising to £60 billion, just to service the interest on our national debt – enough to build a brand new hospital every other day. This is why we must get back to healthy economy which pays its debts and I’m pleased that under current plans, we will deliver a budget surplus of over £10 billion by 2019/20. This Spending Review makes leaps towards growth and recovery and will help to ensure we leave the next generation with a stronger country than the one we inherited.
