John Baron MP welcomes extra resources for education, defence, Police, NHS, and Brexit

MP says 2019 Spending Review announcements are very positive

This afternoon the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rt Hon Sajid Javid MP, announced the 2019 Spending Round, ensuring that all Government Departments have their required funding to deliver on public priorities.

This includes increasing schools funding by £2.6 billion next year, rising to £7.1 billion by 2022-2023, enabling per pupil funding to increase. This is in addition to £400 million on Further Education, ensuring that young people are able to acquire the skills they need. In the East of England area, next year 30% of primary schools (594 schools) will see per pupil funding increase to a minimum of £3,750. 45% of our secondary schools (160) will see per pupil funding increase to a minimum of £5,000 next year.

On defence, the Chancellor announced an extra £2.2 billion next year, a real-terms increase of 2.6%. This ensures we remain above the NATO funding threshold of spending at least 2% of GDP on defence.

The Chancellor has also made £750 million available to recruit 20,000 new Police Officers, to keep bearing down on crime and keep the public safe. In addition, £100 million will be provided to improve security and reduce crime within prisons, £55 million to ensure the system can cope with an increase in demand due to 20,000 additional officers, and funding to begin delivering 10,000 additional prison places.

The £33.9 billion increase in NHS funding over five years will shortly filter through to frontline services. These funds are being used to upgrade facilities and equipment, as well as supporting and training the NHS workforce. In the East of England, £850 million will be spent on upgrading facilities and equipment over 20 hospitals.

£200 million will be spent on improving bus services, more funding for Homes England will be made available to help more young people onto the housing ladder, and an extra £30 million invested in achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2050.

The Government has also made £6.3 billion available to prepare for a no deal exit on 31st October, should it not be possible to strike a good deal with the European Union.

John said,

“I welcome this spending round, which contains many excellent commitments across the range of public services. The extra resources for education, policing and the NHS are very positive, and I am pleased the Government has listened to those of us in the Commons who have been calling for many of these increases.”

“I am also pleased the Government continues to prepare for the event of a no deal / WTO exit from the EU – terms by which we profitably trade with countries outside the EU. Whilst we all hope to leave with a good deal, it is prudent to ensure we are well-positioned to take advantage of the many opportunities that will come with no deal.”