Rishi Sunak promises to keep investing as he tells Accrington: ‘We have got your back’

On Monday, the Prime Minister visited the home of football club Accrington Stanley, said to be the "heartbeat" of the East Lancashire town.

More than 100 people gathered in the Wham Stadium's 1968 lounge to hear him speak a year after he announced the town would receive £20 million in levelling up funds.

Accrington also received a further £20 million boost after it was identified as one of the Government’s 55 so-called “forgotten towns” in the country.

In 2019, Hyndburn MP Sara Britcliffe, at the age of 24, became the first Conservative to represent the previously Labour-held constituency since 1992.

Audience member James Lavery, 31, who runs a local health supplements manufacturer, praised Ms Britcliffe for bringing investment into the town to a level he had not previously experienced.

At the PM Connect event, Mr Lavery asked Mr Sunak: "How important is it to you that we keep seeing these investments into places, businesses like mine, where we can grow, we can become larger in the future, employ more people and (become) a real manufacturing hub?"

The Prime Minister replied: "This is a really important point, actually. What does levelling up mean? Like, it's a phrase people think sounds good.

"I will tell you what it means to me. It means that, no matter where you grow up in our country, you should feel that you and your family, your children, have the opportunity to succeed in life and that you can feel enormous pride in the place that you can call home.

"That, in a nutshell, is what levelling up means to me. And when we make these levelling up investments, that’s what they are geared to doing.

"We have long-term plans, similar to Burnley, for towns where we are giving you £20 million – long-term funding, not for one year, that will last for many years, and putting you in charge of it.

"And that’s being replicated at 50 different towns across the country, many here in the North West, and you’ll decide what the right priorities are for your area."

He said scrapping the northern link of rail scheme HS2 was a "big decision" but it meant the money saved could instead be invested in "literally hundreds of projects" nationwide, such as fixing potholes, capping bus fares at £2, improving local roads, and electrifying rail lines north, east and west.

The Prime Minister said: "That again for me is all levelling up and helping businesses as well.

"You should know that you have a Government that is going to keep investing in your communities, they will not be forgotten.

"I'm a northern MP as well. I want to make sure each and every one of you feels that this Government has got your back and is going to invest in your community.”

Ms Britcliffe said: "This Government is really investing, not just in Hyndburn and Haslingden but across East Lancashire.

"It's under this Prime Minister that we will keep continuing to deliver from towns and areas like mine."

Accrington Stanley owner Andy Holt was also in the audience and asked Mr Sunak if the planned independent regulator of English football would have the power to intervene if the Premier League and EFL could not agree over its future.

The PM replied: "I absolutely love football, I grew up with football. I am from Southampton, I am a passionate lifelong Saints fan and I understand how important football is to our communities.

"Of course the Premier League is an incredibly important asset of our country, it is a global asset that we want to make sure we promote and protect, but equally football is incredibly important in communities like this up and down the country and we need to make sure that fans have the appropriate amount of participation and say in the sport that they love, in the communities that they call home.

"It's important that the incredible financial success that we enjoy at the top end of football is shared throughout the football pyramid so clubs like this and across the country can benefit from that and we can nurture the sport for generations to come, and that’s why the regulators will have the powers, if needed, to impose financial redistribution settlements.

"Now my hope is that the Premier League and the EFL can come to an appropriate arrangement themselves. That would be preferable, but ultimately, if that is not possible, then the regulator will be able step in and do that to ensure we have a fair distribution of resources across the football pyramid."