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Mansfield MP Coun Ben Bradley has welcomed Chanceller Jeremy Hunt’s “Budget for Growth”, which was delivered today, and focuses on the Chancellor’s four pillars of enterprise, employment, education and everywhere.

Coun Bradley, also Nottinghamshire Council leader, is delighted with the announcements, after consistently pushing for Mansfield to be at the heart of Government’s levelling up agenda and also being integral to the devolution plans for the East Midlands.

Key announcements include:

Extending 30 hours of childcare a week to working parents of children aged nine months to four years;
Paying Universal Credit childcare costs up front rather than in arrears;
Introducing reforms to the childcare sector including changes to two-year-old staff:child ratios from 1:4 to 1:5;
Introducing a £25 billion three-year tax cut for business investment;
Increasing the annual pension allowance to £60,000 and abolishing the lifetime allowance;
Establishing a new Universal Support programme for disabled people and the long-term sick;
Abolishing the Work Capability Assessment and increasing the administrative earning threshold to 18 hours;
Extending the Energy Price Guarantee at £2,500 for three months;
Freezing fuel duty for a 13th year, saving the average driver about £200;
Delivering a Brexit Pub Guarantee so draught duty will always be less than duty in supermarkets.

Coun Ben Bradley with the Spring Budget.

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The Budget delivers for the East Midlands by:

Securing a new devolution deal with local authorities across the East Midlands since 2022, empowering local leaders;
Forming Levelling Up Partnerships across the East Midlands, bringing the collective power of Government to provide bespoke place-based regeneration in Mansfield, Boston and Bassetlaw;
Investing an additional £250,000 through the Community Ownership Fund, funding a multi-purpose arts venue;
Benefitting 3,140 public houses and bars across the East Midlands through Draught Relief, helping the hospitality with higher costs;
Awarding £22.9 million to fix potholes across the East Midlands, funding enough to fix the equivalent of 460,000 potholes.

Coun Bradley said: “The Budget was absolutely brilliant for my constituents across Mansfield and Warsop, as well as residents across the East Midlands.

“It is great to see the Government continue to invest in Mansfield and I welcome the news about the Levelling-Up partnership. This bespoke place-based regeneration approach is something I’ve pushed for, so I’m pleased Ministerial colleagues have listened and are delivering!

“I’m also particularly excited about the fact that the East Midlands will be at the front of the queue for an Investment Zone, with £80m of incentives for businesses to come and locate themselves in Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire. We don't know specific sites yet, but this opportunity is only being offered to areas who are embracing devolution plans like we have, so our Combined Authority proposal is already bearing fruit in a number of ways.”

Ben Bradley MP welcomes investment in Mansfield from Spring Budget 2023