Mansfield MP meets with Chancellor to discuss Mansfield’s priorities for the future

During the meeting in the Chancellor’s House of Commons Office, Coun Bradley, also Nottinghamshire Council leader, raised the issue of national funding formulas.

These formulas, which are used to work out how much different services in different regions receive from central government, too often leave Mansfield and the East Midlands with less funding than other regions.

Coun Bradley raised this with the Chancellor and discussed how, through the Levelling Up agenda, these formulas could be altered to boost funding for Mansfield.

He also discussed some of the projects and funding that has already been announced for Mansfield and the need to remove red tape around this funding.

Some of the projects that have been announced include key growth projects like the East Midlands Freeport.

Despite the funding for this project being announced some time ago, the money is being held up by red tape and restrictions put in place by the Treasury.

As such, Coun Bradley and Mr Hunt discussed how best to remove this red tape and unlock these projects to enable quicker delivery for residents and to turbo charge regional growth.

Tax rises were also on the agenda for Coun Bradley and the Chancellor ahead of the Budget in March.

Coun Bradley made his views clear that he does not think tax rises in the current circumstances would be the correct course of action for his constituents. This is particularly the case given the current cost of living challenges.

Coun Bradley said: “I always enjoy bringing Mansfield’s priorities right to the heart of central government. As such it was a real pleasure to meet the Chancellor this morning and put my views and those of my constituents to him directly.’

‘One of the key topics of conversation was national funding formulas and how these impact our region.

“The current formulas as they stand mean the East Midlands is the most underfunded region across a number of services, from local government to police. It was good to put this point across and discuss potential changes to these formulas moving forward.’

‘We also talked about how we can accelerate delivery of various local projects. One of our key projects in the East Midlands is our Freeport.

“Despite being announced some time ago, this is currently being held up by process and red tape. It was important to put my frustrations with these delays across so that projects like our Freeport can now be accelerated so residents can start to see that delivery as soon as possible.’

“Of course, one eye was also on the Chancellor’s Budget in March. I made my views known that I think any tax rises in the current context of a cost of living challenge would be the wrong course of action.’

“I would like to thank the Chancellor for meeting with me this morning and listening to our priorities in Mansfield and Warsop.”