‘Nothing in this budget for Sunderland’ – MP’s verdict
Sunderland MPs condemned the Budget speech for failing to tackle the challenges facing the city.
Sunderland Central MP Julie Elliott said: “There was virtually no mention of the North East in the Chancellor’s budget.
“The money for ’little extras’ for schools is an insult to teachers and pupils in the North East. They need proper funding and proper support, not little extras.
“And the supposed ‘extra’ money for social care is still a real terms cut over the next few years.
“There is nothing in this budget for Sunderland and the North East. Just more of the same, more austerity.”
Houghton and Sunderland South MP Bridget Phillipson MP said: “This Budget was another missed opportunity by a Government that has failed the North East. It did not rise to the scale of the challenge we face as community and a country.
“Eight years of savage cuts and under investment mean our public services are in crisis and our infrastructure is crumbling. It is a shameful fact that one in three children in our city are still growing up in poverty, and the Budget did nothing to tackle this scandal.
“Rather than deliver the urgent plan we need to save our public services, make work pay, and unlock our region’s true potential, the Chancellor simply delivered more of the same
“To make matters worse, the Government’s shambolic approach to Brexit means the threat to the economy and jobs grows by the day – something the North East can illafford after years of Tory austerity.”