"Fond as I am of the hon. Gentleman, I will not give him the money directly, but we will deliver it by the end of the year...." Simon Clarke - View Speech
"My hon. Friend is exactly right: levelling up is all about pockets of need, wherever they occur in this country. I know that there are many pockets in the south of England that are deprived, and it is vital to get the message out across the House that levelling up …..." Simon Clarke - View Speech
"My hon. Friend is a fantastic advocate for Dover on so many issues. She will understand, I hope, that I cannot comment on the merits of specific bids while we are evaluating them, but it is vital that she continues to champion the bid that has been brought forward for …..." Simon Clarke - View Speech
"I am always happy to meet my hon. Friend, who is such a fantastic advocate for his constituency, which I think he has made iconic through his work. As I have just said to my hon. Friend the Member for Dover (Mrs Elphicke), I cannot comment on a specific bid, …..." Simon Clarke - View Speech
"I thank the hon. Gentleman for his reminder, but I need no reminder of the importance on the need for levelling up. That is indeed why my colleagues and I were elected in 2019, and we will bring forward our answers on round 2 by the end of this year...." Simon Clarke - View Speech
"I can absolutely defend our record on levelling up. There is a £4.8 billion levelling-up fund, which is transforming opportunities across this country. The hon. Member need only look at the response of communities across the north-west to our manifesto in 2019, when we were joined on the Government side …..." Simon Clarke - View Speech
"This is a fitting opportunity to pay tribute to my right hon. Friend for all his work in this Department. He is a fantastic champion of not only levelling up but the Union as well. As he rightly says, on this day of all days, when Nicola Sturgeon is bringing …..." Simon Clarke - View Speech
"The hon. Gentleman makes a passionate case for this project, which obviously needs to be considered in the round, including by my colleagues in the Department for Transport. We have certainly heard him today. There is no doubt that accelerating infrastructure that unlocks growth is a key priority for this …..." Simon Clarke - View Speech
"I can certainly give my right hon. Friend that assurance. Not least thanks to his efforts, there will never be any chance of his part of the world being ignored...." Simon Clarke - View Speech
"I am afraid I will neither do that nor accept the premise. With regard to these seven adverts, we have apologised. They all bore the HMG logo very clearly and were marked as advertorials. We accept the ASA’s decision, but we fundamentally believe it was appropriate for us to try …..." Simon Clarke - View Speech