Hull North MP Diana Johnson has responded to the Coalition's latest spending cuts, announced today, by saying that working families are being asked to pay for the Coalition's failure.
Hull North MP Diana Johnson said: "When he inherited an economy that was growing in 2010 the Prime Minister promised to eliminate the deficit by 2015. The fact that the Chancellor came to the House of Commons today with a further deeper round of cuts for after 2015 shows that the Coalition has wasted three years choking off the recovery, failing to achieve growth or cut borrowing.
"It's now clear that the poorest people and working families in Hull will be asked by the Lib Dems and Tories to pay an even higher price for their failure - in slashed local services and falling living standards.
"Lord Heseltine's recent report recommended that £49bn in regeneration funding should be devolved. Today the Chancellor announced only £2bn a year, or £10bn over five years, that the Humber Local Enterprise Partnership can bid for. Lord Heseltine recently described this scale of devolved funding as a 'slap in the face' and it's bad news for Hull that, after initially accepting Lord Heseltine's plans in March, George Osborne didn't see off the opposition from the Lib Dem Business Secretary Vince Cable.
"The Chancellor also announced future transport investment in Crossrail 2, benefiting places like Kingston upon Thames. But we're still waiting to hear whether Kingston upon Hull's crucial A63 road upgrade is any nearer."
In the Commons Chamber, the Hull North MP this afternoon asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer why he didn't overcome the opposition to Lord Heseltine's local funding proposals from the Lib Dem Business Secretary Vince Cable.