Rachel featured on the front page of the Redditch Standard today (November 08th) as part of their coverage of the Labour Government's decision to axe £5 million in Levelling Up funding for Redditch.
In the Spring Budget earlier this year, Rachel secured the £5 million for cultural projects from the previous Conservative government and she worked with the Borough Council on their investment plan.
In a statement to the Redditch Standard, Rachel said:
“It’s incredibly disappointing that it looks like Redditch has lost £5 million in vital government funding for cultural projects.
“The government managed to raise taxes by £40 billion, but somehow we’re led to believe they can’t find £5 million for Redditch.
“I worked tirelessly to secure millions of pounds of investment in our town and its taken this Labour government just four months to take it away. Is this really the change people voted for?
“It begs the question. If Labour are taking this funding away from us, what’s going to happen to the £15.6 million Town Deal that I and the then Conservative-controlled Borough Council secured from the Conservative government.
“Given the local Labour Party’s dire record when it comes to securing investment, I’ve little confidence they’ll be able to convince their own government to reverse their decision, but I will remain hopeful as its in the best interests of everyone in Redditch that we get this funding.”
Even the Editor of the Redditch Standard has expressed their disappointment that Labour is axing this vital funding for Redditch.
