WARRINGTON South MP Sarah Hall has welcomed the Government’s “landmark” Spending Review, describing it as a “turning point after years of chaos and decline under the Conservatives.”
The review sets out sweeping investment in public services, national security and economic renewal.
Key announcements include a record £29 billion real-terms annual uplift to NHS day-to-day spending, the biggest boost in the health service’s history. The Government also confirmed £39 billion over the next decade for social and affordable housing, and a £20 billion increase in defence spending, the largest since the Cold War, which will raise defence investment to 2.6% of GDP by 2027.
The Spending Review makes significant commitments to education and children’s services, including £370m for school-based nurseries, £555 million of transformation funding for children’s social care, nearly £2.3 billion per year to repair crumbling classrooms, and £2.4 billion annually to continue rebuilding 500 schools.
Locally, Warrington is set to benefit from Labour’s ambitious infrastructure push, including a fourfold increase in Local Transport Grants. The Government’s energy security strategy, which features £30 billion for a new nuclear power rollout, will likely support local jobs in Warrington’s large nuclear sector.
Labour is also acting to make communities safer, increasing police spending power by an average of 2.3% a year in real terms to support neighbourhood policing.
In support of young people and economic growth, the Government will invest £1.2 billion a year by the end of the review to fund training and apprenticeships for over a million young people. Families and pensioners will also see cost of living support, with the Warm Homes Plan delivering up to £600 in energy savings through home upgrades.
Under Labour’s Plan for Change, departmental budgets will grow by 2.3% a year, starkly contrasting with the 2.9% annual cuts imposed by the former Conservative government’s austerity programme from 2010.
Ms Hall said:“This Spending Review is about investing in Britain’s renewal, our security, our health, and our economy, so that working families are better off.
“It marks a turning point for towns like Warrington, bringing to an end 14 years of managed decline under the Conservatives and beginning the serious work of national renewal.
““Today’s Spending Review shows exactly what a forward-looking, responsible government looks like. Whether it’s rebuilding our NHS, cutting waiting times, securing clean energy for the future, or investing in British industry, Labour is governing with ambition and in the public interest.
“For too long, previous governments have ignored the potential of vast parts of our country.
“I’m pleased that, following the Green Book debate in Parliament which I contributed to, the Chancellor is now changing how she evaluates public sector investment, shifting to place-based business cases that ensure every region gets a fair hearing.
“This is the clearest sign yet that Labour is on the side of working people, making the tough but necessary decisions to secure a stronger, fairer future, for Britain, and for Warrington South. That’s the difference a Labour government makes.”
