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‘We needed proper plan and real investment in Portsmouth from Government today’ and instead we’ve been let down

Today the Chancellor made a financial statement to the House of Commons, responding to the coronavirus pandemic and economic crisis.

Labour has been calling for full and urgent ‘Back to Work Budget’ to protect UK jobs at a crucial phase of the coronavirus recovery warning that the country cannot afford for the government to make the same mistakes on the economy as during the coronavirus health crisis.

Arguing that the Government’s slow health response to coronavirus has worsened its economic damage, the Shadow Chancellor has warned that without swift action from the Treasury the UK risks falling even further behind other nations.

Other countries, including Germany, have already announced stimulus packages to support the post-Covid economic recovery. The measures announced by the Prime Minister last week fall well behind many other countries’ commitments.

Responding to the Chancellor’s Financial Statement, Portsmouth South’s Stephen Morgan MP said:

“Coronavirus is the biggest crisis of most our lifetimes. That is why my priorities have been protecting the health of Portsmouth people and protecting our city’s economy.

Although it is still too early to know the exact size of the economic shock caused by the crisis, initial signs show a sharp and deep recession. We also know the Government’s slow health response to coronavirus has worsened its economic damage, risking the UK falling even further behind other nations.

That is why I have been calling for a real budget to respond to the scale of the challenges our country faces, not a mere brief financial statement we got today from the Chancellor instead.

Whilst there are a number of measures in the statement today that I welcome – including support to the hospitality sector – we must ask what is in this for Portsmouth’s future? The sacrifices made by us all must be followed up with a targeted recovery plan that gets the economy back on its feet, brings real investment to our city and boosts local jobs and businesses. Instead we have been let down again.

We need a proper plan from Government not a one-size-fits-all approach dictated from Westminster. With all the challenges our communities now face, our city’s economy can ill afford to wait until the autumn for that”.