The Chancellor of the Exchequer set out on behalf of the Government a Budget that delivers on our promises to the British people. Our Budget set against a backdrop of challenging times, delivers certainty and lays the foundations for future prosperity which will benefit all of the residents of Aldridge-Brownhills.

This is our first Budget for 50-years outside of the European Union and it reaffirms our commitment to hard working families with a further increase in the National Living Wage, and a tax cut for families putting £200 in people’s pockets by increasing the National Insurance threshold. And for the tenth year in a row another freeze in fuel duty saving families money at the pumps will once again be welcomed.

The Government’s immediate priority is to stabilise our economy because of the impact of Covid-19. As a result of the hard work of the British people over the last 10-years the foundations of our economy are strong and whilst there will be an impact on our economy the Government stands on the side of families and businesses to support our precious public services, business community and individuals to protect our society from its impact.

As we embark upon creating a new ‘Global Britain’ the Budget demonstrates new and sustained investment to deliver on key infrastructure priorities to allow Britain to be a global leader. By backing business, investing in science and research, delivering green growth and investing record sums in our roads, railways and broadband we will increase our productivity at home and extend our reach abroad.

At a local level there were several wins for the West Midlands and Aldridge-Brownhills, most notable amongst them was the announcement of a new £400 million brownfield fund for local authorities so that we can protect our precious Green Belt and adopt a ‘Brownfield First’ approach to development.

This fund will be extremely important to all of us in Aldridge-Brownhills as we continue to work with Mayor Andy Street to stop speculative and unsuitable development on our precious Green Belt and Open Spaces.

Changes to business rates in the next financial year to remove businesses with a rateable value of under £51,000 will undoubtedly help our High Streets and Village Centres through challenging times and I will be continuing to press for further investment so that areas such as Brownhills High Street also benefit from other Government funding initiatives.

As a Government we are focussed on the ‘People’s Priorities’ and the Budget represents our commitment to all the nations and regions of the United Kingdom with a determination to level up our whole country, deliver on our promises and get the job done for all of the hard working families of Aldridge-Brownhills.