Andrew Gwynne, MP for Denton and Reddish, has reacted to the Chancellor of the Exchequer’s Spending Review, announced in Parliament today.
Andrew Gwynne said:
“The forecasts for the immediate future of our economy, largely as a result of Coronavirus, are very grim and it is clear that some difficult decisions have to be made. Unfortunately, the measures that the Chancellor set out today are not the right ones to meet this challenge.
“Freezing the pay of so many of the key workers that he and the Prime Minister applauded just a few months ago is not only wrong, but also counter-productive if we want to see our economy bounce back quickly. We also had broken manifesto pledges, a complete unwillingness to address the looming end of the transition period and a continuation of an approach to “levelling up” which asks the North to come cap in hand to Whitehall rather empowering and trusting us to make our own decisions.
“Whilst I welcome the extra funding for the “levelling up” agenda, I hope that the Government will have learned their lesson and not attempt to use it as a slush fund for Tory marginals, as happened with the Towns Fund.
“Yet again, there was nothing for those – including many freelancers and some self-employed – who’ve been excluded from previous Covid support schemes, and nowhere near enough to deal with the predicted huge crisis in unemployment.
“The Conservatives also made it clear today that they have no intention of ending their policy of cronyism, which has seen millions and millions in public money given to friends and family of senior Tories during this crisis. Taken together, this is not a viable or fair plan for how we recover from this crisis.”