Nickie Aiken, MP for the Cities of London & Westminster welcomed today's Spending Review which protects jobs, livelihoods and builds the foundations for recovery.
Following the Budget, Nickie commented,
This was an excellent Budget, and I’m pleased to see real progress on some of the key issues I’ve been working on. Rough sleeping and homelessness is still a huge issue in Westminster, the £640 million a year of new money is welcome news, and I’ll be fighting for our fair share of it.
One of my biggest campaigns since entering Parliament has been on improving our national newborn screening programme, and I am proud that we are putting money into a national pilot which is using genome sequencing to detect rare diseases in 100,000 newborn babies. This funding is very good news for families, as we will be able to catch conditions early and give our children the treatment they need. The UK should be leading the world in diagnosing and treating rare diseases, and until the Chancellor’s commitment today, we were lagging behind the likes of Poland, Hungary, Portugal and Slovakia. Today’s announcement will save thousands of lives, we are finally doing right by our children, and ensuring they have the best start in life.
The Budget is also great news for our economy, and central London will be leading the country’s recovery as we move on from the pandemic. I’m pleased to see tax relief doubled for our theatres, museums and galleries, and I will keep fighting their corner. If they do well, so will all the surrounding shops, pubs and restaurants that rely on them. The 50 per cent business rates discount for our retail, hospitality and leisure sectors, and the 5 per cent cut in draft beer and cider will help protect jobs and livelihoods. And I’m proud that we have increased the national living wage to £9.50, this will greatly help people with their cost of living.
