Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps his Department is taking to encourage regional growth across the UK.

The Government published its Levelling Up White Paper earlier this month. It sets out our missions as part of a decade long plan to see the potential of every corner of the United Kingdom fulfilled.

Encouraging regional growth is a key part of our ambition to level up opportunities right across the UK. The Levelling Up White Paper builds on funding allocated at the Spending Review, including ensuring small and medium sized enterprises across the UK can access the finance they need including through British Business Bank programme such as the Start Up Loans scheme and the Regional Angels Fund, and launching the new £1.4bn Global Britain Investment Fund to ensure that economic opportunities are spread more evenly across the UK by supporting investment in the UK’s life sciences, offshore wind and automotive manufacturing sectors.

To improve infrastructure for everyday life, the Spending Review also announced the first 105 places to receive support for regeneration from the £4.8bn Levelling Up Fund, alongside unprecedented investment of £5.7bn in five-year consolidated transport settlements for eight city regions.