Tories pledge £20m each for 30 towns across UK as Labour attacks plan as ‘underfunded and reckless’
1 June 2024, 09:15
The Conservatives have pledged to give £20 million each to 30 towns across the UK if they are elected on July 4.
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Under the pledge, the scheme would see local people decide how the money will be spent rather than those in Westminster.
Some of the towns proposed to be added include: Tamworth, Preston, Corby, Halifax, Bognor Regis, Newtown, Flint, Perth and Newry.
A number of the towns standing to benefit from the £20 million are in Labour-held constituencies, while Newcastle-under-Lyme - a gain for the Tories in the Red Wall in 2019 - made the list just as the former MP Aaron Bell announced he would not stand for re-election.
Mr Sunak said: "We, the Conservatives, have a plan for towns because we know they are the beating heart of our country.
"This bold action will transform 30 more towns - reviving their high streets, growing their local economies and making people feel proud of the place they call home."
However, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer hit out at the plans as a “reckless, underfunded” commitment.
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Speaking to LBC’s Matthew Wright, Conservative candidate Andrew Griffith said of the plans: “Often [towns] they miss out a little bit, a lot of the money flows into our big urban areas.
“We’re putting £20 million for each of 30 towns, so a significant amount of money, will be decided by local people, not Whitehall, but by boards of local businesses, working with civic leaders in those communities across the whole United Kingdom - lots of people when they hear levelling-up think the north.
“Thirty of these towns, improve their high street, improve safety and security, a bit of regeneration, bring people back into the town centres, fix that one shop that’s been closed for years.”
The Tories said the cost of funding the additional 30 towns would be around £600m per year, which the party has dubbed as “affordable” under its plans to clamp down on tax avoidance.
It comes as Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has said that “wealth creation” is his top priority.
Sir Keir will on Saturday announce a number of proposed employment support and welfare benefits reforms aimed at increasing the employment rate from 75% to 80%.
The Labour leader said in a statement: "The first step of my Labour government will be to create economic stability, which means getting a grip of the spiralling welfare bill that's gone out of control under the Tories.
"We will set about, within days of a future government, reforming work support to get more people into work."
