Sarah Smith

This Budget provides absolute clarity that the Government are focused on putting working people back at the heart of economic decision making. This is most evident in the Chancellor’s decision to protect and support public services, enabling the Government to kick-start a mission-led approach to reform. Let us be frank: this Government have inherited public services that are falling apart at the seams, and we know that our constituents deserve better. I commend the Chancellor and Treasury Ministers for taking the difficult decisions that will raise £9 billion per year by the end of the forecast to support public services. The tax decisions that have been taken are difficult, but I thank Ministers for being transparent, as restoring economic stability to put the country back on a trajectory of growth is essential. It is important to highlight that investing money in our valuable public services is also about securing growth in the long term, as my right hon. Friend the Chief Secretary to the Treasury has remarked. Enabling a worker to get a quicker GP appointment so that they can return to work sooner, or supporting a parent who wants to take a job that starts an hour earlier by giving them access to a breakfast club before school, supports growth. In my constituency of Hyndburn alone, the impact of the past 14 years of economic failure is that over 7,000 children are living in families that face absolute poverty. Investment in people and public services has real economic payback, as well as being the right thing to do. Members on the notably empty Conservative Benches refuse to say what choices they would make differently. Would they choose to not invest in public services, to not lift children out of poverty, or to not get the public finances back on a firm footing? The increase in the national minimum wage is also welcomed by many of my constituents in Hyndburn and Haslingden, who work tirelessly to support their families and the local community in skilled but often undervalued jobs, whether in retail, in hospitality or in care. Currently in my constituency, though, we are facing entrenched problems due to a lack of investment in our public services. Most obviously, we face the closure of our highly valued Accrington Victoria hospital due to the fact that the building is now entirely unsafe for both patients and staff. Neglecting public services leads to real consequences, and my constituents have been left to pay the price for the Conservatives’ dereliction of their duty to manage health services sustainably. I therefore particularly welcome the Government’s announcement of a £1 billion investment to reduce the backlog of critical NHS maintenance. If that money had been available previously, and if maintaining NHS facilities at a local level had been a priority for the former Government, we might not have ended up in this unforgiveable situation. Is the Minister able to share any further information on that funding, and will he or a member of the Health team meet me to discuss how we can work to ensure that Accrington’s health services are both retained locally and aligned with this Government’s national strategy for community-based provision?