Blackpool South MP Benton called the budget “really inspiring” while Fleetwood MP called it “smoke and mirrors” as Chancellor Rishi Sunak promised youth services £ 560 million – of which £ 500 million in a pledge, the two Years ago, but still has to deliver.
The budget was announced last week, with plans to increase health spending, increase the national minimum wage, and introduce a 50 percent discount on business tariffs for those in the leisure, retail and hospitality sectors.
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Mr Benton said: “NHS funding will increase by £ 44 billion throughout Parliament, which shows that we are the real party to the NHS. Blackpool has some of the worst health outcomes in the country. People are expecting a real change in their lives and this unprecedented investment in our NHS will help make that happen, with thousands more GP appointments for my constituents, an upgrade to £ 13 million for my local A&E and a commitment like us have never seen before to close the unacceptable gap in life expectancy between central Blackpool and other parts of the country that has persisted for a generation. “
He also welcomed an increase in the school budget and an increase in the national living wage, which he said would bring a £ 1,000 raise to thousands of my constituents in low-paying jobs.
He said, “(The budget) focuses our welfare system on those who are willing to face the state halfway through hard work. That is exactly what a conservative government should do.”
However, Ms Smith said the 2021 budget does not properly support youth investment as funding for young workers was cut by £ 450 million.
She said: “To give context, youth work in England has been cut by 73 percent over the past 11 years. This has had consequences. 940 youth centers have been closed and 4,500 skilled youth workers are no longer on the frontline in youth work.” – a number that rises to about 13,000 if we put youth and community workers together. The National Youth Agency estimates that about £ 1 billion less is spent on youth work each year than it was a decade ago.
“I feel incredibly passionate about youth work, so I was happy when the government announced a £ 500m youth investment fund two years ago. The only problem is that not a penny of that £ 560m has been spent in the last two years I was immediately suspicious because I had heard of £ 500 million for the Youth Investment Fund, which we hadn’t seen a penny in two years.
“It’s no surprise that the £ 560million just announced included £ 500million, so we could argue that it was just a £ 60million funding announcement.
“It gets worse, however, because when we read the fine print in this budget, we find that funding for the National Citizen Service is included in that money. As soon as we start the numbers, we quickly see that the budget is £ 450 million to cut youth welfare.
“Our young people will get £ 450 million a year less under that budget, but the Chancellor stood at the dispatch box and announced a £ 560 million investment in land that has had a really difficult time over the past two years.”
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