Budget Resolutions and Economic Situation

Yasmin Qureshi Excerpts

Tuesday 9th March 2021 Commons Chamber

[Yasmin Qureshi (Bolton South East) (Lab) [V]]

Last week, the headlines were screaming about levelling up, but nothing in this Budget helps my constituents. In the last 10 years, we have seen severe cuts that have caused child poverty of 40%, total unemployment of 10.5% and youth unemployment in parts of my constituency that stands at 30%. The recent cut of £20 in universal credit has caused more people to go into poverty. I think we all remember when the bus said £350 million for the NHS, but in reality its staff will get £3.50, which is an absolute insult. But it seems that the money tree has now been found, because £29 billion has just been given to test and trace, the discredited private scheme with links to Tory donors, and PPE contracts have been given by the Tory party to its friends. This Budget has done nothing to address what my constituency needs.

I want to talk specifically about housing. There was no real mention of housing in the Budget, apart from stamp duty and Help to Buy. My constituents need a house to live in. We need proper social housing. There are 9,000 people registered on the housing list to be accommodated, and everybody knows that decent homes help towards eliminating poverty and deprivation. Bolton at Home in my constituency does a tremendous job, but it needs support and assistance to be able to build more homes. The Leader of the Opposition said last week that this is a Beveridgean moment—a “fork in the road”. We face similar challenges to the ones we faced in the second world war, and we need a stimulus package similar to President Biden’s in the USA.

I welcome the extension of the furlough scheme to September. That is great, but there are 3.8 million self-employed people who have received no help at all through the pandemic. This Budget has failed to address the deep-rooted problems in our society such as deprivation and bad health indicators. My constituency is the 38th most deprived in the country. My constituency has been neglected over the last 10 years. I want proper funding to help the people of Bolton South East.