3 min read
Labour MPs are privately urging the government to expedite funding for local communities so they have more to show voters before crucial elections in May.
In September, the government announced that it would give £5bn to over 300 communities nationwide over the next decade under the Pride and Place Strategy.
As part of the scheme, each selected constituency will receive £20m to spend on improving high streets and public services. The programme will be heavily devolved, with neighbourhood boards including businesses, civil society and community organisations overseeing how the money is spent.
Under the plans, delivery of funding for some areas will begin in April 2027. However, Labour MPs want ministers to bring the timetable forward a year, warning that it will take time for voters to feel the positive effect of investment.
PoliticsHome understands Labour MPs have raised the issue directly with Prime Minister Keir Starmer. Backbenchers also made the same case in a call this week with the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, Steve Reed.
The May elections in Wales, Scotland and parts of England are expected to be bruising for the Labour government, with the party continuing to trail Nigel Farage’s Reform UK by significant margins in the opinion polls. A More in Common survey published on Wednesday put Labour 12 per cent behind Reform.
At last week’s Senedd by-election in Caerphilly, Labour lost in a Welsh seat that it had controlled for well over a century, with its vote falling by 35 per cent.
As well as Reform on its right, recent polls have shown that Zack Polanski’s Green Party pose a growing threat to Labour on its left flank.
One Labour MP told PoliticsHome: “I would prefer for them to start spending the money next year. Politically, that gives us three years of spending before a general election instead of two.”
Another Labour MP added: “For years we criticised the Tories for their smoke-and-mirrors approach to funding our communities, and now we’re being accused of doing the same.
“We promised £2m a year, and that’s exactly what we need to deliver, not £2m a year starting in eighteen months’ time. Our communities have been left to ruin; they’re crying out for real change and visible delivery. That’s what we have to start delivering from next April.”
Labour MPs pushing for funding to arrive sooner fear the government risks setting public expectations too high, and voters will start to ask why promised projects are taking so long.
It is one of the many pressures facing Starmer and Chancellor Rachel Reeves as they prepare to deliver the Budget later this month.
At PMQs on Wednesday, the Prime Minister refused to repeat Labour’s 2024 manifesto pledge not to increase income tax, VAT or National Insurance, as the government looks for ways to stabilise the public finances while also spending on improving public services.