Budget speech promises 'jam tomorrow,' says Hartlepool MP

The Chancellor delivered his last pre-Budget speech before Brexit this afternoon.

But Hartlepool MP Mike Hill was underwhelmed: "It certainly wasn’t a budget to end austerity; nothing of value was said about pay, police budgets or Further Education College funding, all of which have been raised locally with me.

"And as for the £400million going into Schools; the £10,000 per primary or £50,000 per Secondary will hardly make a dent in their struggling budgets.

"As this was the Chancellor's last Budget before Brexit, I understand why he could only promise jam tomorrow by referring to further spending reviews, but I do believe he was right to put more money into mental health specifically to improve crisis services which is desperately needed.

"He could have gone a lot further on local authority funding to ensure services are supported across all areas, although removing the Housing Revenue Account cap is long overdue and welcome.

"I disagree with the boast that under the Tories there has been a ‘Jobs miracle’ in Britain; not while so many people are on zero hours contracts or work in the gig economy, or are in receipt of Universal Credit.

"And as for the delivery of thousands of meaningful Apprenticeships for young people, I see no evidence of that or of any real measures to boost industry and manufacture; he even said he wanted to make Scotland the centre of excellence for offshore platform recycling when the expertise is here already in Hartlepool.

"Of course more money for the roads, Children’s and Adult’s services is important, and his announcement on Broadband might help the people of Dalton Piercey with access to it at last, but there were no answers for the over 5000 WASPI Women living in Hartlepool still waiting for their pensions to be sorted and no real help for those adversely affected by Universal Credit."