Steve Double, Member of Parliament for St Austell and Newquay, yesterday joined with other south west MPs to call on the Government to place an emphasis on supporting the region as part of its long term economic plan.
In the South-west England (Long-term Economic Plan) adjournment debate, Steve said, in response to a comment on growing employment levels,
“Jobs are always welcome, and it is really good news that the Government are backing job creation across the south-west, but the type of jobs we will create is also very important. That is especially the case in Cornwall, where the average wage is 30% below the national average—indeed, in my constituency, the average wage is only £14,500 a year. It is vital that we create better jobs and invest in the economy to grow the average wages for our residents.”
Commenting after the debate, Steve said,
“With an unprecedented 51 Conservative MPs representing the south west we have never had a better opportunity to press the Government to address the traditional under-funding issues that we in the south west have had to put up with for too long. If received, this funding can be used to address many issues, from infrastructure to job creation, including an issue that is close to my heart, the creation of better skilled jobs to raise the overall prosperity of the area.
I was glad to see such an excellent turn out from my colleagues across the south west and that such a wide range of the issues that affect us, including those of job creation, job skills, lack of funding for transport infrastructure and the crucial issue of fair funding for rural services, health and education were all presented to The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government during the course of the debate.
The Chancellor’s excellent Budget yesterday shows that our long term economic plan is working, and it is now time for those of us representing the south west to present a unified front to fulfil and better the promises that the Government made to us before the election”.