I very much welcome the quick and decisive action by the government to implement the £30 billion economic package to help the country deal with the temporary challenge of Coronavirus. People are worried and the government has responded with a raft of substantial measures.
“The NHS will have all the money it needs to fight the virus through a £5 billion emergency fund and ordinary people and small companies will have support with sick pay and business rate suspensions to ensure they can cope.
“Locally in the Meon Valley, a £5 billion investment to bring superfast full fibre and gigabit-capable broadband to every home and business in the UK by 2025 is great news for the constituency’s ‘notspots’ and real boost for my campaign to see better broadband speeds for local people. This is going to benefit the most difficult to reach 20 per cent of the country and I will be seeking more detail on timescales in the coming weeks. A further £510 million from the Chancellor to invest in the mobile network should eliminate poor mobile phone reception and 95 per cent of homes are to receive 4G coverage.
“The £800 million of funding for the Blue Skies Thinking centre to stimulate research and development is also a major boost to the host of cutting-edge and innovative companies in my constituency.
“On an individual level, the rise in the National Insurance threshold to £9500 is welcome and it means around 31 million working people will get a tax cut worth £104 from April. In addition, there is substantial government infrastructure spending earmarked to level up the country.
“This was a good budget and the start of this government fulfilling its general election promises. It was received in almost total silence from the opposition which is a tell-tale sign, the Chancellor has done an excellent job.”
