- Prime Minister to rally cabinet ministers to deliver on the
public’s priorities and bring the benefits of the Queen’s Speech
to life at a Cabinet meeting in Stoke-on-Trent
- Minsters to visit the West of England, Midlands and Wales to
hear from communities and businesses on how new bills will help
them prosper
- Comes as government sets out landmark legislative agenda to
drive economic growth and level up opportunities across the
country
The Prime Minister and cabinet ministers will today meet with
communities, businesses and organisations across the West of
England, Midlands and Wales which will benefit from the new
legislative agenda.
In a meeting of Cabinet, ministers will discuss how the Queen's
Speech will deliver for people by boosting our economic
growth and recovery, improve living standards and level up
opportunities across the country - with Stoke-on-Trent being a
prime example of levelling up in action. They will also discuss
the upcoming major events for this year, including the Queen’s
Platinum Jubilee and Commonwealth games which will provide a
tremendous opportunity to boost pride in Britishness and serve an
important role in the economic renewal and recovery in this
country.
The Queen’s Speech has been designed to deliver direct benefits
for communities like Stoke, for example, with a new bill that
will improve the planning system to give residents a louder
voice, making sure developments are beautiful, green and
accompanied by new infrastructure and affordable housing.
The Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill will help spread
opportunities by creating more of the jobs, homes and high
streets that people want, as well as empower local leaders to
regenerate their areas and ensure everyone can share in the
United Kingdom’s success.
The Government will also continue to deliver improvements to
transport networks across the UK through our Transport Bill,
providing for reliable services, reducing journey times and
spreading economic growth to all regions. And the Handsacre Link
which will connect HS2 to the West Coast will allow compatible
trains to stop at Stoke-on-Trent helping to relieve congestion,
improve reliability and speed up journey time.
Prime Minister
said:
“I’m delighted to bring Cabinet to Stoke-on-Trent today - a city
which is the beating heart of the ceramics industry and an
example of the high skilled jobs that investment can bring to
communities.
"This government is getting on with delivering the people's
priorities and tackling the issues that matter most to the
public.
"This week we've set out how we’ll use new landmark
legislation to grow our economy to address the cost of living,
and level up opportunities for communities across the country."
The Government has injected £56 million into Stoke-on-Trent from
the first round of the Levelling up Fund which will go towards
boosting the supply of quality housing in the city, as well as
attracting visitors to the new arena in the City Centre
Regeneration Area and putting heritage assets to good use for now
and the future.
Stoke-on-Trent also received six successful Community Renewal
Fund bids totalling over £3.5 million for projects supporting
education, jobs and boosting skills. This includes Discover:
Boosting Digital Inclusion in Stoke-on-Trent (£616,520), SHARP -
Sector Hub Action Research Project (£516,787) and Stoke-on-Trent
Digital Innovation and Education Hub.
The Prime Minister has called on cabinet colleagues and
departments to double down on exploring innovative ways to ease
pressures on household finances, promoting the support that is
available but not widely taken up, and helping people into
high-quality, well-paid jobs across the UK.
Over the coming months we will continue examining what more we
can do to ease the pressures on hard-working people and families
on top of the existing £22 billion package, which includes
boosting the incomes of the lowest paid through a rise in the
National Living Wage, saving a typical employee over £330 a year
by increasing National Insurance thresholds, and providing
millions of households with up to £350 to help with rising energy
bills.
