Responding to Boris Johnson’s visit to Stockton North today (Saturday 13 Feb. 21), Stockton North MP Alex Cunningham said:
We are all pleased to celebrate the success of the vaccination programme and the new vaccine to be made at Billingham – but sadly the Prime Minister forgot his cheque book today and offered nothing for the 12500 extra people who have lost their jobs in the Tees Valley since March; nothing for the retail businesses in our high streets now on their knees; nothing to address the huge health inequalities in our area and nothing to address the fact that one in three children in our region live in poverty.
The Prime Minister talks of levelling up – but has committed just £4 billion – a fraction of the money he is spending on the HS2 rail link or Crossrail in London – and that £4 billion has to stretch from Liverpool, through Manchester all the way through the North East to the Scottish border.
If his government are serious about a levelling up agenda, they have got to do so much better than pay lip service and back it up with the resources we need.
