Questions Robert Jenrick must answer about Towns Fund Scandal
|
Labour has set out the questions Robert Jenrick must answer about
his role in the Towns Fund scandal that saw £3.6 billion of
taxpayer money funnelled to marginal constituencies and his own
area just months before the 2019 General Election. Labour has
secured an urgent question today (Wednesday) on the Towns Fund,
after a damning report by the public accounts committee (PAC) into
the secret selection process for the Towns Fund in which money was
awarded to 101 towns across...Request free trial
Labour has set out the questions Robert Jenrick must answer about his role in the Towns Fund scandal that saw £3.6 billion of taxpayer money funnelled to marginal constituencies and his own area just months before the 2019 General Election. Labour has secured an urgent question today (Wednesday) on the Towns Fund, after a damning report by the public accounts committee (PAC) into the secret selection process for the Towns Fund in which money was awarded to 101 towns across England in need of regeneration. Analysis by The Times has found that 60 of 61 towns selected by ministers were in seats won by the Conservatives last December. It was subsequently revealed that former Communities Minister Jake Berry selected Mr Jenrick’s constituency of Newark to receive funding, while Darwen, a town in Mr Berry’s Lancashire constituency, was chosen by Mr Jenrick. Civil servants had ranked them respectively the 270th and 289th most deprived towns in Britain. Steve Reed MP, Labour’s Shadow Housing, Communities and Local Government Secretary, will pose the following questions to Mr Jenrick:
Commenting, Steve Reed MP, Shadow Housing, Communities and Local Government Secretary, said: “Scandal-prone Robert Jenrick has, yet again, been dragged to the House of Commons to explain why he misused taxpayers’ money to benefit the Conservative Party. “There are real concerns that the Secretary of State misused taxpayers’ money to help his own bid for re-election, then tried to cover what he’d been up to just days before a damning report was released. “Sunlight is the best disinfectant: Mr Jenrick must answer these questions and reassure the public that taxpayers’ cash isn’t being misused by the Conservatives for their own gain." Ends Notes to editors
Transcript from Marr, 11 October 2020 Marr: I’m glad you mention Nottinghamshire because in yesterday’s Times your constituency of Newark, it was reported, was awarded £25 million in funding from your own department in an initiative called the new Towns Fund. Is that right? Jenrick: That is correct. Marr: That is correct. Now this fund was designed to help left behind towns. That’s also correct? Jenrick: That's right, this is part of our commitment as a government to levelling-up all parts of the country, particularly investing in towns that have been undervalued, or underinvested in, for too, many of which are in the Midlands and North, including places like Nottinghamshire, of course, where there are many places that have been deprived, ex-mining communities like the one I represent. Marr: And your department listed those on an index of deprivation, the communities who are most likely to get the money and there were 101 towns that were going to get the money. Where did Newark fit on that list? Jenrick: Well the Department put in place a robust and fair methodology, it was actually designed before I became Secretary of State, which looked at a number of factors, not just deprivation. And out of that list we chose, on the advice of civil servants, the 40 most high-ranking towns in the country. And then in addition to that… Marr: It was a more opaque system for the next 60. Jenrick: ...places were chosen, again on the advice of civil servants, so that here was a broad range of places from market towns, like the one I represent, ex-agricultural towns, coastal towns, city centres and ex-mining and coalfield communities. And that process has been set out by civil servants in my department. If your question, which I think you’re coming to is - was I involved in selecting my own community? Marr: I’m coming to that. Jenrick: Absolutely not. Ministers don’t get involved in their own constituencies, that decision was made by another minister in my department. Marr: Which minister, by the way? Jenrick:It was made by Jake Berry, who then was… Marr: Who also got money for his constituency. Jenrick: Well that was a decision made by another minister. Marr: You? Jenrick: It was made by myself. But I think, to be honest… Marr: So, you decided that Jake Berry's constituency got money, and Jake Berry decided that your constituency got money? |