Philip Davies has secured a meeting with Chancellor Rishi Sunak to discuss funding for the Shipley Eastern bypass and flood defences for the area – after the MP said money saved from reducing the overseas aid budget should be spent on local priorities.
Foreign aid spending will be cut to 0.5 per cent of gross national income saving more than £4 billion a year, it was confirmed today in the spending review.
Shipley MP Mr Davies said the announcement was the right thing to do and money needed to be spent on British needs and believes it will be widely welcomed by the public despite opposition from many MPs to reduce the previous 0.7 per cent promise.
Mr Davies said: “I do not see why it should be controversial to say we should only spent what we can afford on overseas aid and I suspect the vast majority of the British public will not be asking why has he cut so much but be asking why are still spending so much.
“If some of that money saving could be spent on the much needed and long awaited Shipley Eastern Bypass and some proper flood defences in the Shipley constituency so much the better.
Mr Davies has been campaigning for the Shipley Eastern Bypass since the plans were first discussed. He also has repeatedly called for better flood defences telling Parliament and ministers of households repeatedly flooded and the fears they have every time it rains.
Mr Sunak said: “This spending review is about delivering on the British people’s priorities and yes we have made some tough choices but we have done that so we can continue investing in the things our constituents value most and I look forward to talking to him further about the bypass and flooding defences he needs.
“Hopefully with the doubling of flood defences in this parliament it is something we can make progress on for him.”
Mr Davies said he would now be contacting the Chancellor to arrange a meeting to continue to push for both the bypass and the flood defences.
He added: “It is right money is spent on local needs and I will do everything I can to ensure the proper flood defences are put in place and we get the much needed bypass.”
