Last week, Richard spoke in a Westminster Hall Debate on the Green Book Review as Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury. The Green Book is guidance issued by HM Treasury on how to appraise policies, programmes and projects. It also provides guidance on the design and use of monitoring and evaluation before, during and after implementation. The debate was brought forward by Sarah Russell MP who was making the case for the Government's 10-year infrastructure strategy to address the historic imbalance of infrastructure funding between London and the North.
Richard Fuller MP said:
In my contribution, I highlighted that although there is a widespread belief that the 'levelling up' programme of the last government underperformed objectives, the level of public expenditure on services per head outside the South and South East of the country was significant.
Between 2018/19 and 2022/23, real capital per head decreased by 3% in the East and 5% in the South East. London did increase by 20% but the North West and North East saw increases of 25%, 24% in the West Midlands and 22% in the East Midlands. Impacts were not always commensurate with investment and more needs to be done, but the foundations are there to be built on and progress is being made.
Referring to my own area of the country, I also highlighted the enormous amount of 'growth' projects currently planned or proposed in Bedfordshire. They say a week is a long time in politics, and I'm delighted that the Treasury did indeed 'pull it's finger out' regarding the Universal Studios theme park and this week's excellent news that that project will be going ahead. And again pointed out to the Treasury that East West Rail loses 70p for every pound of taxpayers' money invested into this 'growth' project.
Richard's contribution can be watched at https://youtu.be/4TY5USeIH_c?si=rdb5QZt8JUOvbFCW
