The New Deal for Britain

The Plan for Jobs announced this week builds on the Prime Minister’s New Deal for Britain:

Over the next five years, we will invest more than £600 billion pounds in our future prosperity, with the New Deal bringing forward and accelerating £5 billion of capital investment projects, supporting jobs and the economic recovery across the country.

Providing £1.5 billion this year for hospital maintenance, modernising the mental health estate, accelerating new hospital building projects, and expanding A&E capacity. This will improve patient care, make sure NHS hospitals can deliver world-leading services and reduce the risk of coronavirus infections.   Investing £100 million this year for 29 projects in our road network to get Britain moving, from bridge repairs in Sandwell to boosting the quality of the A15 in the Humber region. Plus £10 million for development work to unblock the Manchester rail bottleneck, which will begin this year.   Providing £1 billion to fund the first 50 projects of a new, ten-year school rebuilding programme, starting from 2020-21. These projects will be confirmed in the Autumn, and construction on the first sites will begin from September 2021. We are also accelerating existing programmes to repair and upgrade schools and FE colleges. This will be worth £560 million and £200 million respectively this year.   Investing over £280 million to support and modernise our criminal justice system creating jobs; New £142 million for digital upgrades and maintenance to around 100 courts this year, £83 million for maintenance of prisons and youth offender facilities, and £60 million for temporary prison places, creating thousands of new jobs.   Bringing forward £900 million for a range of ‘shovel ready’ local growth projects in England over the course of this year and next, as well as £96 million to accelerate investment in town centres and high streets through the Towns Fund this year. This will provide all 101 towns selected for town deals with £500,000 – £1 million to spend on projects such as improvements to parks, high streets, and transport.   Kick-starting the construction industry and speeding up rebuilding. New rules will mean existing commercial properties, including newly vacant shops, can be converted into housing more easily. And in July we will publish a planning Policy Paper setting out our plan to comprehensively reform England’s outdated planning system with a new approach that works better for our modern economy and society.   Confirming a £12 billion affordable homes programme that will support up to 180,000 new affordable homes for ownership and rent over the next 5 years. This builds on the 464,500 affordable new homes we have delivered since 2010 and will now include a pilot of 1,500-unit ‘First Homes’ that will be sold to local first-time buyers at a 30 per cent discount, delivering on our manifesto commitment.   Allocating funds from the £400 million Brownfield Land Fund. We have confirmed the allocation of funds to the West Midland, Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire, Liverpool City Region, Sheffield City Region, North of Tyne and Tees Valley to unlock brownfield sites and support around 24,000 homes.   Expanding the Home Builders Fund to help smaller developers access finance for new housing. Developments will receive additional £450 million boost. This is expected to support delivery of around 7,200 new homes.

This all comes on top of the unprecedented action the Government has already taken to support jobs and livelihoods across the UK with over £160 billion of support….

Jobs retention scheme has been used by over 1.1 million employers to protect 9.4 million people’s jobs at a value of £27.4 billion Self-employed income support scheme has been used by over 2.7 million to the value of £7.7 billion. The safety net is working – with an extra 2.3 million people getting the help they need through Universal Credit (since 12 March) 53,536 loans have now gone out through the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme for SMEs providing almost £11.5 billion worth of finance. 394 loans have been approved for the Coronavirus Large Business Interruption Loan Scheme for large firms providing £2.5 billion worth of financing. Over 1 million Bounce Back Loans have been approved worth over £30 billion. Over 861,000 firms have benefitted from £10.57 billion of business grants through the Small Business Grant Fund and the Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Grant Fund. Almost £10 billion of business rates relief has been provided for firms affected by Covid-19 – taken with existing measures around 1.1 million properties will pay no business rates in 2020-21. Over 496,000 VAT payments deferred by businesses to the value of £27.5 billion.