PARLIAMENTARY DEBATE
Pride in Place - 15 October 2025 (Commons/Commons Chamber)

Order. Mr Waugh, you do not cross the Front Bench, even to take a shortcut. It is not on.

With permission, Madam Deputy Speaker, I wish to make a statement on the action we are taking to restore pride in place. Britain’s renewal is a driving mission of this Labour Government, and we know that that must be seen, felt and heard in every single neighbourhood. Our identity, sense of patriotism and feeling of belonging can all depend on the condition of our local area and the view from our doorstep.

Our neighbourhoods are the nation’s barometer for whether all of us in this House are doing our jobs. Under 14 years of Conservative failure, the needle of that barometer has increasingly pointed in the wrong direction. The effect of this decline in pride in place has been corrosive. It has eroded people’s trust in politics and the state, created a sense of unfairness and that some places have fared better than others, and opened the door to the plastic patriots in the Reform party, who say that there is a simple answer. Let me say from the start that we are under no illusions about the complex causes of, and answers to, this decline.

The failure of the Conservatives properly to fund local government, the sharp transition away from industry and the broken Tory promises of levelling up must shoulder part of the blame. We cannot and will not pretend that the legacies of any of those issues can be reversed overnight, but, as both a Labour Government and a Parliament, we can be confident that the way in which we restore pride in place lies not in this Chamber or the corridors of Whitehall; the answer is in the communities that we each represent.

Our job is to give our constituents the investment and powers that they need, so that they can deliver the change they want to see in their communities. That is why we have announced the pride in place programme, backed up by £5 billion. This is a priority for the Prime Minister, choosing renewal over decline and unity over division. This is our plan for change in action, giving power and pride back to the people who make Britain great.

There are two categories of investment. The first, the main programme, is the flagship pride in place programme, which will provide up to £20 million of funding and support to each area over the course of a decade, focused on specific neighbourhoods. Communities will need to decide how that funding is spent. We will establish a neighbourhood board in every place, made up of local people. Residents, business owners and community leaders will come together alongside their Member of Parliament to come up with a 10-year plan for this investment. They could choose to bring a derelict pub back into use for the community, transform a boarded-up shop into a wellbeing hub, improve local transport links, create a new playground or roll out a community-level service to help with the cost of living. Local people know best what change is needed.

This programme is about local communities taking back control. As long as the plan provides value for money, the board will have our full support to deliver the change that the community needs. We are taking inspiration from the new deal for communities, which, under the last Labour Government, put local communities in charge of renewing their neighbourhoods, but we are also adapting to the world as we find it today and learning the lessons of what did and did not work from the last time around.

The second programme, the pride in place impact fund, will provide a short-term injection of £1.5 million per place. It will be delivered by local authorities for the most immediate results in three phases: community spaces, public spaces and high streets and town centre revitalisation. Despite the shorter timeframe of the fund, there is still an important emphasis on local collaboration. We will ask local communities to work closely with MPs and local authorities to ensure that investment decisions reflect local priorities and community needs. Our economic situation means that we are not in a position to cover everywhere that would benefit from this programme. We have therefore prioritised places with the highest level of need—those places that have been left behind and let down, and those communities that were hollowed out over 14 years of Conservative austerity, for which the Conservatives should hang their heads in shame.

It is important to this Labour Government that every community has the power to renew their area, so alongside this investment we have published the pride in place strategy. The purpose of the strategy is to promote the same principle of community power across the entire country, and it centres on three aims.

The first aim, building stronger communities, means bringing people together. We see that as the foundation for a greater sense of belonging and local pride. When people spend time with each other in their community, including those from different backgrounds, they see that they have more in common than separates them. This sense of shared endeavour means that communities are more likely to take steps to improve their local area. As part of that, we will fund locally led interventions to build community resilience, encouraging volunteers through co-produced policies, and tackle loneliness. We recognise that that can be delivered only by a whole-of-Government approach, so this section of the strategy includes policies from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and the Home Office.

The second aim, creating thriving places, is how we promote pride in place in the most direct sense: by improving how the public realm looks. As a Government, we see a direct link between the declining appearance of our local neighbourhoods and how people feel about not just their immediate area, but the country and the world around them. We acknowledge that the performance of the public realm is often a reflection of the economy and the work of local authorities, which is why we are focused on growth and on fixing the foundations of local government, but even in times when the economy has been strong and local government was funded properly, the effects have not always been felt in the public realm. Fixing that disconnect is the inspiration for policies to encourage the application of shopfront design guides as well as the use of clean-up powers. What links all the policies in this section of the paper is that they empower our communities to create thriving places. This is not an attempt to micromanage change from Whitehall.

The final strand, helping communities to take back control of their own lives and areas, sets out our plan to give people a stronger voice in what matters to them. Each of us in the House will have spoken to constituents who talk of helplessness, when the place that they live in is changing in ways that they did not ask for and that they feel they have no control over. Sometimes it is about antisocial behaviour on their estate; other times, it is about the shops being lost from the high street. People want to be in control of their surroundings, but that is such a distant concept when they do not feel safe going out at night or do not have a say over how their town centre looks.

A lot of those feelings stem from the effects of the Conservative Government’s 14 years of austerity, which took libraries and leisure centres from some of the most deprived and disadvantaged communities. When combined with the closure of pubs, sports clubs and social clubs, it means that for much of the country there are fewer and fewer places for people to come together and take pride in. We are therefore introducing a community right to buy, to give local residents new powers to save treasured assets; giving more people a say in their local economy by creating a new co-operative development unit in my Department; and requiring all authorities in England to establish effective neighbourhood governance.

This Labour Government’s pride in place programme is an investment in the UK’s future, backing the true patriots who build up our communities across every corner of the country. Alongside our strategy, it aims to spark a new way of governing, where power and resources are more readily shared with our communities. However, like devolution, this needs to be the start of a process rather than a single event. We have specifically designed both investment programmes with a guaranteed role for local Members of Parliament, so I finish by encouraging Members from across the House to get involved. At a time when trust is low and the demand for change is high, this is an opportunity for all of us to make a real, tangible difference to our communities by giving real power to those we are elected to serve.

I call the shadow Minister.

This statement speaks of pride. Conservative Members have pride in our local pubs, 200 of which have closed in the past six months, hammered by the Labour party’s business rates rises. We have pride in our restaurants, which are closing in record numbers under the business rates burden imposed by this Government. We are proud of our local shops, which—according to the British Retail Consortium—are buckling under an additional £7 billion of annual costs imposed by this Government. We are proud of our family businesses, the bedrock of our high streets, which are buckling under new taxes introduced by this Government. We are proud of our family farms, which are also buckling under the new taxes imposed by this Government. We are proud of our local councils, which face maxing out their council tax rates. We hear of £20 million at a local level, but councils across the country are maxing out their council tax, not to invest in new local services, but to pay an additional £1.5 billion of annual costs imposed on them by this Government’s job tax—every year, when it comes to delivering services, a net £1.5 billion worse off. We are proud of the workers of this country, of whom there were 4 million more when the Conservative party left office last year. In the retail sector alone, 97,000 have lost their jobs since this Government took office. As such, this programme is a fig leaf—elements relabelled from past programmes such as the long-term plan for towns, slightly redirected to Labour areas—that covers up a collapse in the ability of our elected local representatives to invest in their communities. As with so many things, that collapse gets worse every day under the Labour party.

Let me pose some specific questions to the Minister. First, why is there so much complex governance around this? Why not listen to the cries of our local leaders in Croydon, Somerset and Hertfordshire—people across the political spectrum who are saying, “Why not just give the councils the money to get on with this? Why tie this up in bureaucracy and red tape?” How much of this money has simply been rebadged from other, previously announced Government programmes? Why the change in methodology? In the interests of transparency, can the Minister set out for the House why the funding now seems to be landing in areas that are more likely to support the Labour party?

How much of this funding sits outside of the 2025 spending review, and is therefore deeply in question from the start? How much of this money—like so many of this Government’s announcements, such as on housing—has been put in the public domain, but promised as spending towards the tail-end of the next Parliament, perhaps the very definition of jam tomorrow? Finally, can the Minister tell us how today’s announcement will help small businesses on all our high streets across our country to recover from her colleague the Chancellor’s £2.7 billion tax hike in this year alone?

I am disappointed by the hon. Member’s lack of contrition and his failure to say sorry. The Conservatives presided over 14 years of failure, during which, over a period of austerity, local government and local civic institutions were denuded and deprived communities were hollowed out. He says that we are funding areas of deprivation—that is because we actually care about funding those areas. Candidly, if I had the record of the last Government, I would not stand at the Dispatch Box and give us lectures.

Let me pick up the specific questions that the hon. Member asked. First, why are we tying this up in process? There is no process, but we have said that communities should be in charge. The difference between this scheme and the things done by the last Government is that we want to put communities in the driving seat and give them power. We want local authorities to enable and facilitate, but we absolutely need our community leaders. Members across the House will know them—the people who are networking, championing and making change happen. We want them around the table, driving the change that their community needs.

On the methodology, the Conservative party obviously did some fiddling, but we do not do that. We have focused on two metrics: multiple deprivation and community needs. That is putting investment into the areas that most need it, because they are both deprived and, critically, have low social infrastructure and social capital. That is why we are funding the areas that we are funding. We all remember the Conservatives’ last Prime Minister, the right hon. Member for Richmond and Northallerton (Rishi Sunak), saying that they actively diverted funding away from areas of deprivation. That is something that the Labour party will not do and has not done.

Finally, turning to the funding profile, we are desperate to move with momentum. We want to get the investment out. It is a 10-year commitment—that is an absolute game changer. No Government have ever said to communities, “Come up with an investment plan and we will fund you over a decade.” We think that is game changing for communities on the ground, but we are not going to wait. We are already giving programme capital investment to the 75 places that were in phase 1, in order to start the work of kick-starting that programme, and then their funding will flow next year. For those places in phase 2, capital and capacity investment will be going into them from next year and then flowing in the year after. We are very clear about this opportunity for our communities.

This is not about party politics, so I am incredibly disappointed by the hon. Member for Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner (David Simmonds). This is an opportunity to support parts of our country that have been absolutely hollowed out. I would expect a bit more contrition. [Hon. Members: “Why?”] Because of your record. Because you sat—

Order. “Because of your record”? My record? “Because of you”? Me? Let us temper our language, lower the temperature and continue.

Apologies, Madam Deputy Speaker. Because of the Conservatives’ record, I would expect a little bit more contrition.

We are focused on the task ahead, which is the opportunity to drive change in our communities. I hope Members across the House can join us in that endeavour.

The £5 billion investment in the pride in place programme means that Brinnington and Stockport will benefit from a £20 million investment. What does the Minister think of the former Government’s levelling-up slogan, which in reality was a levelling-down agenda for opportunity, ambition and trust?

My hon. Friend is completely right—levelling up was a hollow slogan. We see from the record that there was no substance behind it. Unlike the Conservative party, we are doing the job of investing in our communities, putting them in the driving seat. That will be a game changer in constituencies such as my hon. Friend’s.

I call the Liberal Democrat spokesperson.

I welcome the Minister to her place. Liberal Democrats welcome the Government’s commitment to invest in high streets and communities—making our local centres thrive is a cause that all of us across this House share. However, despite the strategy talking about empowerment and the Government previously announcing that they would simplify the system and consolidate grants, this strategy does the opposite by creating a patchwork of small ringfenced grants for certain areas with strict rules on how local authorities can spend their funding.

However, what goes unsaid in the strategy is perhaps as important. The importance of community assets such as libraries and swimming pools is acknowledged in the strategy, as is the lamenting of their loss, but the strategy neglects to mention the deeper causes of those sell-offs. Local authorities face ever-growing crises in funding statutory services that they have to fund according to Government rules, particularly social care and provision for special educational needs and disabilities, and are forced to sell assets to keep those services going. In this year alone £1.3 billion of public assets have been sold off, nearly three times the amount of the annual funding announced today. In my constituency, and in Somerset as a whole, more than two thirds of council tax payments go towards the funding of care for children and adults. Last year the county succeeded in plugging a £55 million shortfall, but that feat will become harder to achieve each year.

Pride in place will struggle to succeed unless the Government fix the care crisis. Council tax payers should not be bailing out the Government when it comes to their duty to provide a care and SEND system that works. Investment in the high streets is welcome, but is no substitute for giving local authorities the means to protect their services and assets into the future. Will the Minister tell us what plans the Government have to relieve the care funding crisis at local level, so that communities can keep and maintain the services and assets that they value most?

I will take each of those points in turn. This is about empowerment. We are driving through what we believe is the biggest boost to devolution in a generation, and there are three strands to that.

First, we are putting communities at the heart of the strategy. We have designed it in a way that does not just mean that local authorities are in the driving seat, because we consider it critical to put community leaders at the heart of it. This is an opportunity for us to galvanise our communities, to get people from diverse backgrounds round the table and, crucially, to build momentum to drive the change that they want to see. We do not resile from that, because we think it is absolutely the right approach.

Alongside it, however, we are giving more power to local authorities, whether that means multi-year funding or consolidating the local government finance system so that authorities have more flexibility. We see them as a key partner in the driving of change on the ground.

Thirdly, as we create strategic authorities there will be the biggest tranche of devolution to our city region and county region mayors that we have seen so far. Taken together, those three strands are about fundamentally shifting and transferring power from the centre to places, so that we can deliver the change that people want.

There has been a huge sell-off of assets. That is the legacy of the last 14 years, and it is a tragedy for our communities. We have introduced the community right to buy so that communities are able to identify assets of community value and to buy them, and support from pride in place gives them an opportunity to put investment behind that.

Finally, the hon. Gentleman asked about the critical issue of local government funding. Labour Members entirely understand the pressure that local government is under. There have been 14 years of austerity, driven by the Conservatives, and local authorities are having to deal with a very difficult context. That is why we have moved towards a multi-year funding settlement, and why we gave a huge boost to local government financing last year. Over the course of the spending review, there will be a real-terms increase in local government spending power. It is tight, but we are doing our part as a Government to ensure that local government can deliver for our communities. My colleagues in the Department of Health and Social Care are driving through critical reforms that will address some of the pressures that we know exist in our social care system.

I welcome this Labour Government’s £22 million investment in Fairfield in my constituency, which was ignored by the Conservatives. Does the Minister agree that it is crucial for this programme to provide not just new money, but new powers for local people to decide how it is spent? Will she confirm, for the avoidance of doubt, that the money should not be used to deliver core council services?

Absolutely. Let me put it on record that we want communities to be in the driving seat. That is how this differs from programmes organised under the last Government, and if we get it right, it will have a huge, galvanising potential. What we want to militate against is the possibility of its just going towards “business as usual”. If we can bring people from communities to the table and get them to invest in the things that matter to them, but can also generate community wealth, this will be a potential game changer.

May I congratulate the hon. Lady on her new role, and, perhaps, strike a more slightly consensual note?

In Sutton Coldfield we welcome this initiative. It is good that it builds on the towns fund set up by the last Government, and we in the royal town are very pleased to be part of it. I can tell the hon. Lady that we are undertaking extensive community consultation, led by Royal Sutton Coldfield Town Council and its leader, Simon Ward, and that our local board, under the chairmanship of Doug Wright MBE, is forging ahead and already making considerable progress. May I invite her—as I invited her predecessor—to pay a state visit to the royal town of Sutton Coldfield, where she can see how we will use this money to the best possible advantage?

I thank the right hon. Gentleman for telling us about the progress on his patch. It is incredibly encouraging to see the work that has already been done, whether through the local authority, existing boards or the coming together of community leaders. I ask all Members who can give examples of this working well to reach out to other Members, on both sides of the House, so that those examples can be shared. I look forward to travelling across the country and seeing pride in place in practice.

I warmly welcome the £20 million pride in place funding for the Hawkesley estate in my constituency. It stands in stark contrast to the hopes and expectations that were allowed to be built under the last Government for £11 million for Northfield’s high street in the second-round bid for the levelling-up fund, which were cruelly dashed when not one penny was allocated to the city of Birmingham. Does my hon. Friend agree that this will not be, and cannot be, some lengthy bureaucratic process? Of course our councils must be essential partners, but will she confirm that the priorities will be set in the communities themselves?

Absolutely. We are trying to make this as permissive as possible, and we want communities to genuinely choose the schemes and projects that will work in their areas. As long as the community represented in the neighbourhood board are behind an area and are confident that it delivers value for money for them, we will step aside and let them get on with it, because that is absolutely the right approach.

My constituents in Rowner were delighted to hear that they had been chosen for pride in place funding, but they are now a little bit worried, and I hope that the Minister can help us. My constituents fear that rather than the money being spent on projects that will change lives in Rowner in a meaningful way, our Liberal Democrat council will attempt to siphon some of it off to bankroll one of its vanity projects, namely the Criterion, a dilapidated former bingo hall. I am pleased that this funding comes with some flexibility, but what protections will the Minister introduce to prevent the money from being frittered away on white elephants by unscrupulous councils?

I shall not comment on the specifics of the council, but what I will say is that we are very clear about the fact that the local community should be in the driving seat. The funding is flowing through councils because they have accounting officer responsibility, but the decision needs to be made by the neighbourhood boards. My plea to Members on both sides of the House is this: get the neighbourhood boards up and running. The recruitment of the chair is key, and that is a joint endeavour between local authorities and MPs. The MPs must be consulted, and must have the final say in who the chair is. The chair can then ensure that the right voices are sitting round the table. Ultimately, the funding will go to back an investment and regeneration plan that the board will develop. That will make it very hard for particular long-standing projects to be funded: this must be part of a plan that is supported by the neighbourhood board, and the investment will flow into that.

Like others, I welcome this investment, particularly the investment initially in Merthyr Tydfil and latterly in Rhondda Cynon Taf, which covers the Aberdare part of my constituency. It will make a real difference to the community. I am sure the Minister agrees that it is crucial, indeed critical, for real engagement to take place with communities when it comes to how this money is spent, but can she say a little about any discussions that are taking place about a replacement for the shared prosperity fund, which will remain until March next year?

The shared prosperity fund will come to an end in March next year. We will set out the details of a local growth fund, which will be geared towards the areas of the country that we think need it the most: our mayoral authorities in the north and the midlands. We will share details of that in due course.

Borderlands was a fully-funded initiative launched by the former Government, and it is now supported by the Department, the Scottish Government and the Scotland Office here in Westminster. It is designed to meet all the objectives that she has set out in the south of Scotland, Cumbria and Northumberland, but for some reason, only a very small proportion of the money has got out the door. Can the hon. Lady, in conjunction with the Scotland Office, do a full drains up to understand why the money is not getting to the community projects that it is designed to support?

I thank the right hon. Gentleman for raising that issue. I am very happy to take it away, and to work with the Scotland Office to understand why the money has been blocked. We are really keen to move at pace. We want to get investment into our communities, and we want things to start happening, so if we can find ways to unblock the investment, we absolutely shall.

May I welcome the Minister to her place, and say what an encouraging start this is? All the funding that my community is receiving is very welcome, and it is such a contrast to the previous regime’s approach, where we had the crumbs off the table, and a politically motivated process in which communities had to bid against each other in a system that was essentially rigged. It was always about what the Government wanted to spend the money on, not what communities decided their priorities were. Since the announcement of pride in place, I have had so many constituents come forward with great ideas. What assurances can the Minister give me that their voice will really count?

My hon. Friend is absolutely right to point out the difference in approach—both in allocation and in the power that we are genuinely trying to give communities—between this Government and the last Government. We are very clear that communities are in the driving seat. The Conservative party pointed out that things were being made “complex”, but I do not think they are. We are creating a route that allows communities to be in the driving seat; we have designed the programme with that intent. We have community delivery units that will be working on the ground alongside Members of Parliament to make sure that communities are genuinely driving and shaping this, and that we can unlock the huge potential to change our places.

I congratulate the Minister on her appointment and welcome the core principle that she described: giving our communities the power to decide how to put money to best use. I am delighted that Torbay has been awarded two tranches of pride in place funding. However, it is a perverse badge of honour, because it demonstrates that we are the most deprived local authority in the south-west of England, the Conservatives having short-changed us. Another challenge in Torbay is the fact that social rented homes account for only 7% of our housing. Will the Minister reflect on how the whole Government can try to meet the desperate need for social housing in Torbay, which has less than half the national average?

I thank the hon. Member for raising the critical issue of housing. I am incredibly proud that this Government are putting record investment into social and affordable housing—£39 billion—because we absolutely recognise that if we are to tackle poverty and deprivation, we must get to the root cause of the housing crisis. We have to make sure that affordable housing is an absolutely right, so that people in our communities can afford a roof over their head. That should not be a distant dream for so many.

After 14 years of neglect under the previous Government, it is refreshing to see that under this Labour Government, communities such as New Addington in my constituency come first. I welcome the £20 million long-term investment that this Government are making in New Addington, its people and its future. Does the Minister agree that it is vital that local people get to decide how this money is spent, and can she outline what new powers will be given to local people in New Addington, so that this money is spent on their priorities?

My hon. Friend is absolutely right to say that at the heart of this must be the community. That is why we have made the neighbourhood board absolutely critical, and there is a huge job for Members of Parliament from across the House in helping to organise, convene and bring together community leaders who can populate that board. We are very clear that regeneration plans will be driven by that board. Critically, it will not just be the board in the driving seat; big swathes of the community will be engaged, and they will have a voice and a say in what this looks like. Alongside that, we are making sure that there is a community right to buy, which I have spoken about, so that the community is in the driving seat, taking on community assets of value. There is a huge opportunity, but Members of Parliament and local government must play an enabling role, so that we can put communities in the driving seat for the first time.

The future high streets fund worked well, because to get any funding, areas had to demonstrate that they had a plan, and that the money would be used effectively, in accordance with local priorities. Pride in place is structured in a very different way. I accept that the Minister’s intent is to ensure that redundant premises are repurposed and reused; that is really good, and as chairman of the Trowbridge Place Partnership, I certainly welcome that. However, how will she ensure that the whole thing is not just bunged up with endless legal challenges, as her unelected boards make diktats that will be subject to endless review?

There is the pride in place impact fund—£1.5 million that will go to local authorities across the country to bring about high-street regeneration. Alongside that, there is this programme. We are unapologetic about the fact that we want communities in the driving seat. We know that this is a different approach for Government, but it is the right approach, because we cannot and will not address the huge distrust, anger and frustration in our deprived communities unless we give people power and agency to shape and drive the change that they want. We will work as a Department to enable that. I have talked about the community delivery units; they will work alongside areas to make sure that we provide capacity-building support and enabling support, so that the investment not only works for the community in the short term, but fundamentally builds community wealth.

Order. Members can see how many colleagues wish to contribute. Unless they keep their contributions short, they will deny their fellow Members the opportunity to speak. Show us how it is done, Shaun Davies.

I refer Members to my declaration in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests.

I warmly welcome the £20 million investment in Telford, which has been match funded by Labour-led Telford and Wrekin council. That means that £3 million will go to Woodside, Brookside and Sutton Hill each and every year for the next decade. Will the Minister confirm when that money will come to the community frontline? Will she also challenge Government agencies and Departments right across Whitehall to get behind the ethos of this scheme, and make sure that communities are in charge, and that there is pride?

We will start investing. Phase 1 places are already receiving capacity funding, and £2 million will flow from next year. Phase 2 places—the places we recently announced—will receive capacity funding from next year, with full funding flowing from the year after. This is potentially a way to revolutionise the way that government works. We are very keen to work with Departments across Whitehall. We are saying, “Here is a way of investing in communities that genuinely puts communities in the driving seat.” Hopefully it has the impact that we want.

I was really disappointed that Cornwall, despite having some of the most deprived towns in the country, will not receive a penny of pride in place funding. At a time when our shared prosperity funding is to stop, I am concerned to hear the Minister mention that the north and the midlands will receive pride in place funding. I hope she clears that up. Will she meet me and my constituent Fin Irwin, who has really exciting plans for Bodmin’s Fore Street in my constituency? They could be the basis for a great pilot involving social housing, opportunities for small businesses and community spaces, and it would prove that the Government want regional growth everywhere.

We are not able to fund all areas—I wish we were—so we have focused on particular areas of deprivation that also score high on the community needs index. However, we are also putting in place a whole set of powers and provisions so that every community can take control of its high streets and other areas, and can use the community right to buy. I am very happy to meet the hon. Member and other Cornwall Members to talk about how we can ensure that that part of the country thrives.

I will try again. Dr Lauren Sullivan will show us how it is done.

I welcome the Minister to her place. I thank her for Gravesham’s share of the pride in place impact fund; £1.5 million over two years is a really great investment, so that we can restart building communities and place—and there are new possibilities that once could only have been imagined. These priorities have been neglected over many years. Does she agree with me that the impact fund will make a real difference to Gravesham?

I do. It is a huge opportunity, and if we get this right, we will see tangible benefits in my hon. Friend’s constituency.

I welcome the Minister to her new position. I enjoyed shadowing her on the energy brief. I really welcome the inclusion of Lakenheath in this announcement, and I look forward to working with her, and with residents and councillors, on making sure that the funds are well spent.

I want to ask the Minister how we build pride in place by improving local economies. Her Department is contemplating its plans for the development of Cambridge. My constituency is very affected by that development, and there is rising demand for new housing. I would appreciate it if I could meet her, or one of her colleagues, to discuss how we integrate new housing with transport connections. In particular, I am thinking of connections from Cambridge to Haverhill in West Suffolk.

I thank the hon. Member, and I am very happy to meet him.

I warmly welcome the Government’s investment of £20 million in the Raffles and Morton neighbourhoods of my Carlisle constituency. As I am very fond of reminding Members, Carlisle is the most northerly city in England—120 miles north of Manchester, and a very long way from this place. Does the Minister agree with me that what is truly transformative about this programme is not simply the money, but the fact that decisions about how it will be spent are put in the hands of local people, not politicians and civil servants in what we in Carlisle call “that London”?

My hon. Friend is completely right. Putting local people and communities in charge is game changing, if we get it right. I think it will lead to better decisions, and to an impact on places that matters to people. However, there is a big collective onus on all of us to get that right. The instinct to hoard power at the centre and to control is strong, and we all have to work to make sure that we put our communities in the driving seat.

I congratulate all Members who have secured funding in this pride in place settlement, but once again Perth and Kinross has been totally and utterly ignored. We did not receive one penny in levelling-up funding from the Tories, and we have received nothing from this Labour Government. Worse than that, they actually took away from Perth and Kinross the £5 million that we had finally secured from the Conservatives. The people of Perth and Kinross are sick and tired of being ignored in this merry-go-round of pork barrel politics. When are we going to get our share, and just what have the UK Government got against the people of Perth and Kinross?

We have allocated local growth funding to Scotland, which we will announce in due course. In addition, we are working with the Scotland Office on the allocation of the Scottish component of pride in place. This Labour Government are investing in Scotland and in our communities, but the Scottish Government are in charge, and if our communities are struggling in Scotland, responsibility for that sits with the SNP.

I call Paul Waugh, who will not want to let me down after his earlier infraction.

Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. In Rochdale, we warmly welcome this £20 million investment in Smallbridge and Hurstead, which is very much overdue. I am the Labour and Co-operative MP for Rochdale, which is the home of the Co-op, and we know more than anyone elsewhere the power of local people coming together, setting their own priorities and taking back control. Does the Minister agree with me that this investment is overdue because of the years of neglect by the Conservative party and Whitehall, and is a vote of confidence in local people?

My hon. Friend is completely right. Like him, I am a Co-operative MP, and I think the values of our Co-operative movement run through this programme. It puts local people in charge, but it also says that it is by giving local people a stake, giving them ownership and allowing them to generate community wealth that we make our places prosperous.

The Minister described those receiving the money as “true patriots”, but in my constituency we have not received a single penny of this funding. Are my constituents not true patriots? There are plenty of places in the north of Farnham and potentially in Bordon that could really do with using this money. I invite the Minister to come to my constituency so that I can show her the places that need the money, and the amazing job that others are doing already.

We would have loved to have had funding for every part of the country. Sadly, because of the inheritance—the hon. Member has encouraged me to raise this again—of 14 years in which the public finances were decimated and the Conservatives crashed the economy, we are having to navigate through that situation. However, alongside the investment in the places that have been chosen because of deprivation, we are giving all places the tools and the levers to reclaim their high streets and invest locally.

It is a damning legacy of the Tories that being born in Avondale Grange in Kettering rather than three minutes down the road means that people’s opportunities are less, they face more health inequalities and, under the last Government, they were told to accept decline. This £20 million funding shows that this Government believe that no matter where someone is born, they deserve to have pride in their community. While Reform continues to seek division, can my hon. Friend outline how people having pride in their home and bringing communities together is a real example of true patriotism?

My hon. Friend is completely right, and she put it incredibly eloquently. We can change the country by bringing our communities together and giving them the tools and agency to change their place so they have pride. Labour Members are on the side of unity, and of bringing communities together to drive renewal. I note that there are no Reform MPs here, but they are on the side of dividing, and of simple slogans and simple answers that—to be candid—will not change the lives of people in our communities.

The Minister said in her statement:

“Our job is to give our constituents the investment and powers that they need”.

Of course, we all agree with that, and today’s announcement is welcome. However, as a fellow London MP, she will be aware that the so-called fairer funding review will actually decimate the funding of many London local authorities. My own borough of Richmond is set to lose a staggering amount—over 90% of its core Government funding—and our most vulnerable and disadvantaged residents will suffer. [Interruption.] If you will indulge me, Madam Deputy Speaker, I am being heckled by Labour Members—

Order. There isn’t time—get to the point!

Will the Minister at the very least commit to an impact assessment of the fair funding review changes for local authorities such as Richmond, and will she grant transitional funding?

We have been consulting. We have closed the consultation, and we are looking through the responses at the moment. We have had representations from authorities across the country, including London. This Labour Government are very clear that we will continue to invest in our local areas and our communities. There is a need to rebalance, but we will do that in a fair way that does not negatively impact deprived communities.

Last week, I went to the toddler group at Open Heaven church in Friar Park. The mums there told me there is nothing for young people to do in Friar Park—no playground, no youth club. Does the Minister agree with me that the £20 million is going to make the most massive difference to Friar Park, especially given that it is local people, like those mums, who will decide how it is spent?

My hon. Friend is completely right. The opportunity to invest through this in local community services and youth services is absolutely huge, and putting local mums in the driving seat is always a good thing.

I welcome the fact that south Bridgwater has been included in this programme. These funds come on top of the £23 million allocated to Bridgwater under the last Government’s town deal. Parts of Highbridge in my constituency are equally deserving of funding, so can the Minister advise whether there will be any further rounds of allocating funding in this Parliament?

I think the hon. Gentleman is asking me to do the Chancellor’s job, which I shall not be able to do. We think that this is an exciting way of investing in our communities, and that there is a huge opportunity for us to leverage in additional investment. We are very keen to talk to social impact investors and philanthropists about how we can invest. There is also a lot of interest among the business community—local businesses and business improvement districts—in bringing this together. If we get this right and the funding in place leverages in additional funding, we will have shown that this is a way of operating that we can then roll out across the country.

The Featherstone people have great pride in their place, but they are also shrewd. They know that the Tories did austerity, trickle-down economics and cuts across the health service, so they will very much welcome this announcement. May I push the Minister a little bit further on the question of a new economic model? Top-down economics has failed. Treasury mandarins do not understand what is happening in a place like Featherstone, whereas Featherstone people do. Does she see this measure as a way of community wealth building from the bottom up, rather than economics from the top down?

Absolutely. The Prime Minister spoke about grassroots growth, which is growth rooted in our communities and our places, where we build community wealth, which fundamentally changes and rewires the economic model and the economic settlement. We are very deliberate about the fact that we want to put communities at the heart of both driving change, and driving wealth and economic opportunity. That is how we drive up living standards.

The Government are presenting the pride in place programme as a win for communities across the UK, but the focus of this particular scheme is on neighbourhoods of around 10,000 people. On Ynys Môn, only one town even meets that population threshold. That is not unique to my constituency; it is the case across Wales. Will the Minister explain why rural communities are excluded by design from this specific programme?

We are investing in rural communities, whether in Somerset or Wiltshire. We have used very clear metrics—we have used deprivation and the community needs index—to focus the programme on the areas that need it the most. We recognise that this is part of a bigger strategy, whether that is giving communities the power to reclaim their high streets, the investment we are trying to do through local government, or, critically, the job we are doing with our regional mayors to fundamentally drive economic prosperity. There is a bigger plan to invest in all parts of the country.

For years in Derby, we have been pushing for this kind of long-term investment—investment that the fantastic community of Chaddesden richly deserves. It will take time and hard work to recover from the 14 years of neglect that communities like Chaddesden experienced. I would like every Chadd resident with ideas of how they can get the money spent and get involved to contact me. Does the Minister agree that it is key that local people have a say in how that money is spent?

My hon. Friend is completely right. This is a huge opportunity to bring the community together and for them to be in the driving seat. Therefore, reaching out to all parts of the community is one of the most powerful things that Members of Parliament can do. I have an organising background and this is an organising moment, because it is the ability to bring people—those who are not normally around the table and who cannot normally shape their places—around the table and to give them voice, power and agency.

Minister, the statement makes reference to engaging with the Northern Ireland Executive. Can you tell me what discussions you have had with my colleagues in the Northern Ireland Executive?

Order. It is not “Can you tell me?”; it is “Can the Minister tell me?”. Yes? Quick!

Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. Can the Minister please tell me what discussions you have had with my colleagues in the Northern Ireland Executive? You will be aware of the fact that the shared prosperity fund, which other Members have referenced, is not being replaced. The local growth situation is already jeopardising jobs in Northern Ireland. Can you make any comment on that, Minister? Thank you.

Correction twice—it is not “Can you make a comment?” Let us please make sure we get our words right next time around.

We are working very closely with the Northern Ireland Office, which is in constant contact with the Northern Ireland Executive in terms of pride in place and community investment, and local growth investment more widely. We will be working closely with them and ensuring that we are engaging with, and trying to design this with, the Northern Ireland Executive.

In my area of Blackpool, the damning legacy of the Tories means that we now live in the most deprived borough in the country. High streets such as those in South Shore—Bond Street, Waterloo Road and Lytham Road—have been left to ruin. Will the Minister outline how the £1.5 million that can be used to restore high streets can be used quickly and efficiently in South Shore? Will she join me in Blackpool to meet residents and businesses in South Shore, and get some fish and chips along the way?

I would love to join my hon. Friend and I would love some fish and chips. On the £1.5 million, we are getting out the first tranche this autumn, so places will already be getting the investment. We are already signing memorandums of understanding to ensure we can move quickly. There is a critical role for Members of Parliament, working with the community, to ensure that the investment goes into the things that the community wants.

More money and power going into communities is of course a good thing, and it would be only right and proper for me to welcome some money going into my neighbouring area, represented by the hon. Member for Stockport (Navendu Mishra). I want to return to a point raised by my hon. Friend the Member for Taunton and Wellington (Gideon Amos) about the broader question of funding for local government. Stockport council covers my patch. Some £3 in every £4 it spends goes on adult and child social care. That is not sustainable. Three years to do a social care review is a long time. Will the Minister explain what conversations she is having with colleagues in the Department of Health and Social Care to shorten that timeframe so we can crack on?

We are working closely with the Department of Health and Social Care. We understand the pressures that the social care system and its failures—which, again, we have to lay at the door of the Conversative party—are having on local government finance. We are doing what we can to give local government the flexibility to respond and increase the funding envelope, but there is a fundamental question about social care reform that is difficult and complex and that has been kicked into the long grass. We are determined to take this forward, but we have to do it carefully and we have to do it well so that it delivers the impact that everyone across the House wants to see.

The £20 million pride in place funding going into the west end of Morecambe shows that this Labour Government are really trusting local people to spend money locally, without lots of bureaucratic hurdles—and I really welcome that. Whether it is smartening up Yorkshire Street or Regent Road, or getting under the bonnet and helping people with their health problems, in Morecambe we are ready to go. Will the Minister tell me if we can work together to get this going as quickly as possible and speed up the pride in place timescales?

My hon. Friend is completely right. We want pace, we want momentum and we want to get on with investing in our communities. Our community delivery unit will be working really closely with communities. If places want to run, it is our job to work alongside them so that they can run.

I welcome this new funding package. The city of Birmingham will receive £160 million over the next 10 years. My constituency, which has been in the media recently, undoubtedly has some of the highest levels of unemployment, child poverty, deprivation and health inequalities, but it has not received any of the funding. May I invite the Minister to meet me, so I can seek to persuade her that we need more funding, given that the eight neighbourhoods in Birmingham are patches that, unfortunately, have Labour MPs?

I would be happy to meet the hon. Member. We know there is deprivation across the country, and everything the Government are trying to do, from our strategy to drive growth to the work my colleagues in other Departments are doing on child poverty—we are taking action across the piece—is to tackle that. We have focused on certain communities, but we know that there is work to be done in all our communities.

Peterlee is the place to be. Interestingly, Peterlee is the only town in the country named after a trade union leader. There will be great celebration of the Labour Government’s £20 million investment from pride in place in Peterlee. I welcome this money, which is going to make a real difference to people in my constituency who were ignored by the previous Conservative Government. Does the Minister agree that it is important to note that this programme is not just new money, but gives new powers to local people to decide how it is spent?

My hon. Friend is completely right. What is game changing, in my view, is putting local people and communities in the driving seat and giving them powers to decide where they want to put the money. That will deliver impact, but critically it will also bring our communities together; it will bridge and create a sense of pride and a sense of community.

I welcome the Labour Government’s £20 million investment in Kingstanding in Birmingham. For 14 years, my constituency was repeatedly overlooked; it was even denied levelling-up funding on two occasions. Can the Minister assure me that after 14 years of Conservative neglect, local residents will come first, going forwards?

My hon. Friend is completely right. The approach this Labour Government are taking is to put local residents and communities first. We will all have examples of communities that have been hollowed out; we will all know that sense of despair and distrust. We absolutely need to turn that around, and we are committed to doing so.

I warmly welcome the £20 million coming to Paston, Gunthorpe and the Welland area of Peterborough. This is pride in place being delivered by my hon. Friend the Minister—the pride of Peckham—and I thank her. I am deeply proud as a Co-operative MP that the co-operative development unit is part of this strategy. Earlier this week, along with Peppa Pig and the Education Secretary, I visited Honeyhill’s childcare centre, which is a family hub in the centre of the area that will receive this funding. Can the Minister confirm that this money will be not just about bricks and mortar, but about changing lives? Facilities such as family hubs will be at the centre of how we can give children the best start in life. We can use this investment to change things for the long term in Peterborough.

My hon. Friend is completely right. If we get this right, it will be about not only the investment in the next 10 years, but how we create momentum around that and catalyse greater community wealth and, critically, how we invest in our communities for the long term. As a proud Co-operative MP, I think there is a huge opportunity for us to ensure that communities have a genuine stake and that communities are benefiting in the long term from the wealth that is being generated.

The Conservatives hollowed out our communities and Reform is exploiting it, and yet this Government are helping communities like mine to thrive. We have already had the announcement of our £20 million in the towns fund. We have set up our Believe in Bedworth board, because my residents believe in their town, and the chair of that board has said that he feels energised to have a hand in shaping the future of his home town. We have already had thousands of responses to our survey and are organising a family fun day on 25 October. We would be delighted if the Minister could join us for that. Can she outline how the £1.5 million of impact funding can help to turbocharge the groundbreaking work already being done by Nuneaton and Bedworth borough council to bring empty properties back into use?

I thank my hon. Friend for setting out the huge amounts of work and progress in her community. That is a great example of exactly how this can work really well. There is a huge opportunity with the impact fund to build on that; where neighbourhood boards and governance structures are already established and where people like my hon. Friend have done huge amounts of engagement with the community, we should absolutely be thinking about leveraging in more investment.

In June, I led a Westminster Hall debate calling for better investment in disadvantaged neighbourhoods, so I am delighted that my call was heard. I welcome the £20 million for Low Hill and an additional £1.5 million of pride in place impact funding. Does the Minister agree that the people who live in my communities, who know their strengths, their struggles and their solutions, must be at the heart of deciding what this money is spent on—not investment done to them, but investment by them and with them?

I thank my hon. Friend for the huge amounts of work she has done to champion this agenda and to come up with ideas to tackle deprivation. She is completely right: it is about communities in charge, driving change. It is not about change done to them, but about change with them in the driving seat.

I remind Members to keep questions short so that we can get try to get everybody in. I would not want Members to miss out on the opportunity to speak about their constituency because other Members had taken so long.

I warmly welcome the £20 million for Old Farnley, but now is the time for action. Hundreds of people have already completed my survey. I have more than 100 volunteers for the neighbourhood board alone—it will not be that big—and we have plenty of ideas that we want to spend the money on. Given that we are ready and impatient to deliver, will the Minister empower my residents to crack on and spend this money and deliver the change that we know they deserve?

I congratulate my hon. Friend on his work and the huge progress he has made, both in reaching out across his community and in convening and galvanising people to join his neighbourhood board. We want communities to run this. We want pace and we want impact, and we are committed to working alongside him and his community to drive the change that they want to see.

The people of Warndon in Worcester feel immense pride in their identity, and they know that for far too long they have been unheard, let down and left behind. This commitment of £20 million to Warndon could be transformative, especially as it is long-term funding over 10 years. However, more than money being spent, the people of Warndon need to be heard, respected and empowered. Can the Minister assure the people of Warndon that she shares my determination that the power, the decisions and the money are in their hands?

My hon. Friend puts it eloquently and correctly. The power will be in their hands, and it is our job to ensure that is the way it plays out.

On behalf of the people of Portsmouth, I am delighted that we have received £41.5 million under Labour’s pride in place impact programmes. Some £20 million of that is for Paulsgrove, which is close to my heart. It is a proud and resilient place, but it was neglected and ignored under 14 years of the previous Government. As pubs, shops and facilities have closed, volunteers and community champions have been running them out of their own pockets to keep that part of the city going. Will the Minister confirm that the community of Paulsgrove will now be able to have a say and put into action what the community wants and needs, with real investment from the Government, rather than from their own pockets?

My hon. Friend highlights the patriots I talked about—the people in our community who have been holding things together despite all the damage done by the Conservatives. We are clear that those people are the ones who we must champion and put in the driving seat.

I welcome the pride in place funding announcement and, in particular, the £20 million that has been allocated to Barrow Central ward in Barrow-in-Furness. It is one of the most deprived in the whole country, and it is refreshing to see that under this Labour Government, we are delivering to those who were left behind by our predecessors. Does the Minister agree that the people who live there not only know the opportunities and the barriers, but understand where we need to spend the money to put things right in these left-behind communities?

My hon. Friend is 100% right. Understanding what is needed is game-changing, and I hope that this programme will deliver the ability to ensure we can act on that understanding.

The Labour Government’s £20 million investment for Heartsease and Pilling Park in my constituency will be transformative. For too long our communities have had stuff done to them, not with them, and this model will help change that. Will the Minister join me in encouraging all people who live in these areas to get involved? Does she agree that it is important that people of all ages and from all backgrounds, including people who have perhaps never thought before about doing something like this, get involved?

My hon. Friend is completely right. This is a huge opportunity for our communities to get involved. As I have said, I think there is a powerful role that Members of Parliament can play in putting out the clarion call. I encourage anyone, particularly those who have felt politics and decisions about their lives to be remote, to become involved. This is their chance to get around the table, to shape their place and to make sure that they drive the change that they want to see.

After 14 years of Tory neglect, the town of Fleetwood has been buzzing with ideas about how to make the most of this fantastic pride in place fund. My community is ready to hit the ground running. We are hungry to deliver the investment we so badly need. Can the Minister assure me that the people of Fleetwood will get the resources we need to begin the work at the earliest possible opportunity? We cannot afford to wait any longer.

I completely agree that we need pace and urgency. Communities have been let down and held back for far too long, and this is our chance to act with purpose and speed. We want to stand behind communities so that they can crack on and make the change that they want to see.

The pride in place funding will be transformative for my constituency. I thank the Minister for working with me and for giving advice to urban areas such as Middleton—urban areas that a former Conservative Prime Minister bragged about diverting funds away from. I was delighted to convene a meeting at Burnside community centre recently where calls for improvements to Middleton were decisive. What steps are being taken to ensure that places with the most acute need, such as Middleton, are given priority within local authority areas?

My hon. Friend is right to remind us that resources were deliberately taken away from some of our most deprived communities under the last Government, which is a shameful record. We are very clear that this is an opportunity to invest in our communities. We want local authorities to ensure that they are working alongside our communities and enabling them, and that the money and resources are going to the places that the communities believe need the investment.

I warmly welcome the £21.5 million pride in place investment for Hartlepool, which will go directly into our neighbourhoods. It comes off the back of the biggest deal in Hartlepool’s history of £6 billion for new nuclear and 2,500 jobs, and a brilliant Labour council delivering £150 million of capital investment in our town. Does the Minister agree that after years of being left behind, this shows that the people of Hartlepool have a Government and an MP who are on their side?

I 100% agree. That example shows the difference that a Labour Government working with a Labour council can make. We inherited a decade and a half of decline and neglect, and it is—[Interruption.] The hon. Member for Broadland and Fakenham (Jerome Mayhew) is sighing from the Conservative Front Bench. He should be far more ashamed about his Government’s record. It is our job to turn around their failure and neglect.

Since the announcement of £20 million for the east of Sheppey, my constituents have been fizzing with excitement. I am getting loads of responses to my online surveys, and the coffee morning I held on Saturday—the first of many I will hold—was very well attended. People had really great ideas, but they had two main things to feed back. First, they want local people to be at the heart of this initiative. The citizens of Eastchurch, Warden, Leysdown and Shellness all want to be part of it, but they want to make sure it is centred on them, not on outside voices. Secondly, they want the funding to be a catalyst for further change and investment in the area. I would like to hear the Minister’s thoughts on that, and I would also quickly remind her that I have three more neighbourhoods in the bottom 10% of the country—just to add that to the list.

I congratulate my hon. Friend on his amazing work to reach out to his community and get that engagement and feedback from people. That is what will drive the change. I thank him for the feedback from his residents and community; will take it on board. We completely agree that residents need to be in the driving seat and that this initiative needs to be a catalyst. If we get this right, we can take the model to Whitehall, local businesses and philanthropy and say, “This is how we drive change in our communities. Continue to co-invest.”

I am thrilled that my hometown of Thetford in rural South West Norfolk is to receive a share of this funding. Just last week I was at the board meeting where we made our first funding commitments to increase capacity and reopen a derelict medieval church in Thetford town centre as a community space. Does the Minister agree that projects such as those will bring footfall back into our towns, support local businesses and improve our local economy?

I thank my hon. Friend for sharing that example. I completely agree; that is an incredibly exciting project. Those sorts of schemes can have a huge galvanising impact on our local areas. I look forward to seeing the progress that he and his community are making, and we will make sure that we do our part to support them.

To their great credit, the Bournville, Coronation and Oldmixon communities have survived in spite of previous Westminster disinterest. Does the Minister agree that this huge £20 million investment in Weston-super-Mare is an endorsement of our faith in every community champion who has kept our most vulnerable communities together while Westminster looked the other way?

My hon. Friend is completely right to highlight the heroes who helped to hold our communities together through 14 years in which they were neglected and faced huge pressure. Pride in Place is a vote of confidence in those local heroes. Our job is to give them what they need in order to drive the change they have been rightly calling for.

I am delighted that this Labour Government are investing £20 million into Weston and a further £1.5 million into the wider Southampton Itchen constituency. Ideas are already flooding in from a group of people who are relieved not to be overlooked yet again, as they were under the last Government. Does the Minister agree that such long-term, stable and—most important—community-led investment is absolutely the right way to transform communities like Weston for the better?

My hon. Friend is completely right. Long-term, stable investment that is anchored in our communities and puts them in the driving seat is a game changer. I am incredibly excited about the programme, but it is examples like his that show us just how transformative it could be.

I am delighted to confirm that the entire community of Park End and Beckfield will be able to benefit from the £20 million of investment through the Government’s Pride in Place scheme. Will the Minister confirm that the funding should be spent not by the council or by any politician but by the community themselves on the priorities they want to see?

Absolutely, 100%. Communities are in the driving seat, with the neighbourhood board of a cross-section of members of the community—people who have never sat around the table—being around the table and driving the change that they want to see.

I really welcome the £21.5 million of extra funding for Hastings, and I am delighted that hundreds of residents have been in touch with their ideas about how to spend it. As the Minister said, it is better spent on people’s priorities and not wasted as in previous schemes under the Conservative party, like the £150,000 wasted on Owens in Hastings. Public money was also spent on reopening the Bridge community centre in Ore, which has sadly been closed for seven years, so many in Hastings were shocked to hear that Parchment Trust, which was given the centre for free, plans to sell it on the open market for £650,000. Does the Minister agree that Parchment Trust should look at how it can return the centre to public hands and take up the Charity Commission’s offer to meet to discuss that?

Absolutely. My hon. Friend gives us the example of how not to do this, as we saw that under the Conservative party. If we get this right and we put communities at the very heart of it, that is how we will drive change. I commend her on the amazing leadership she is showing in her community, working with others to bring them around the table to ensure that investment that has a long-term impact will drive change in her community.

Two neighbourhoods in Fife are benefiting from £40 million of Pride in Place funding, showing the Government once again delivering for the people of the kingdom of Fife. Given the centralisation of power in Scotland under the SNP, how does the Minister believe those funds can support local decision making in Scottish communities, particularly in areas of deprivation?

I thank my hon. Friend for raising that important point. We believe that communities should be in charge and in the driving seat—that is how we drive transformative long-term change. We desperately hope that the Scottish Government will look at what we are doing. The Scottish Government have been hugely centralising, but not always making decisions in the best interests of the communities we want them to. We think there is something that they can learn, and we will work with them to share the lessons and, critically, to advocate and encourage them to take a similar approach.

I thank the Minister for this fantastic funding announcement. I know that my constituents in Maryport and Broughton Moor will make good use of this £20 million investment. Thinking back to the last Government’s approach to levelling up, I recall that the Public Accounts Committee criticised the lack of transparency in how levelling-up money was allocated. As pork barrel politics and levelling up are two very different things, will the Minister reassure us that lessons have been learned and this Government will be transparent?

I thank my hon. Friend for raising that important point. The pork barrel politics we saw under the last Government were shocking. At a time when our communities were under huge pressure and we saw such deprivation, it was pretty egregious and unforgivable. This Labour Government would not do that. We are clear and transparent about the metrics that we have used; it is all published and it is there. Critically, we are trying to reach the communities that need the greatest help.

For the final question, I call Richard Burgon.

Not only as the Member of Parliament, but as an east Leeds resident, I am delighted that £20 million has been secured for Seacroft North and Monkswood, which really needs it. Does the Minister agree that the ideas and answers on how this vital money should be spent lie with the local people in Seacroft North and Monkswood, who were sadly left behind and let down by the previous Tory Government?

My hon. Friend is completely right. The answers lie with our local communities. If we do the job of creating the space for them, empowering them and building their capacity, they have the ability to fundamentally transform lives in our communities. I am determined to support that, we are proud that, as a Labour Government, we are putting it at the heart of our approach, and we are determined to deliver it.