The Green Party parliamentary candidate for Stroud says the government’s decision not to award Stroud a share of the Levelling Up Fund spells bad news for MP Siobhan Baillie’s re-election hopes.
Pete Kennedy said: “The whole Levelling Up agenda is politically motivated, focused on sending money to areas where the Conservatives are hoping to win at the next election – instead of sending the money to where it is needed most and will have the greatest impact in the long term.
“This is a politically driven fund – nothing at all to do with so called ‘levelling up’. The money allocated so far disproportionately benefits people in Conservative seats so the fact that Stroud has got nothing – despite having a Tory MP – seems to indicate that Ms Baillie is out of favour with her own party in government.
“The fact that they have decided not to give Stroud any money – despite Ms Baillie’s support of the bid – suggests that they have now given up on retaining Stroud in the general election. Ms Baillie will now not be able to use a successful LUF bid as part of her election campaign.”
He said the news about the bid was “bitterly disappointing” for the District as a whole. “The Council spent a lot of time and effort putting the funding application together. A successful bid would have upgraded Stroud and made the town more attractive for visitors and residents, through projects such as improvements to the Sub Rooms forecourt and the Wallbridge area.”
He criticised the government for ignoring areas – like Stroud – where it sees little chance of winning or retaining seats. “Rishi Sunak, the Prime Minister, claimed that the fund will ‘grow the economy, create good jobs and spread opportunity everywhere’ and will ‘build a future of optimism and pride in people’s lives and the places they call home’. Unfortunately, he obviously does not think that the residents of Stroud deserve any of these opportunities. Instead of Levelling Up, the Conservatives are ignoring Stroud, while the district’s taxpayers are paying to improve other parts of the country instead. Once again, the Conservatives have let Stroud down.”
He added that the Green-led Stroud District Council remains committed to doing the planned work anyway, albeit now over a longer period. “Thirteen years of Conservative government has left councils underfunded and public services struggling. The council will continue upgrading Stroud, but without support from the government it will take longer.”
Photo: Pete Kennedy outside Siobhan Baillie’s office.