In My View by Holly Lynch

The Conservative Government’s mini-budget which included huge unfunded tax cuts for some of the very richest, bypassed crucial independent scrutiny and wasn’t discussed with the Bank of England in advance.

It resulted in the pound crashing with the Bank of England forced to step in and buy government debt to prevent a collapse in pension funds. The Institute for Fiscal Studies estimated the black hole created by the mini-budget to be £62 billion. As a direct consequence, this will have to be filled by either cuts or a rise in taxes.

It was the most reckless of responses to the cost-of-living crisis, which has only made the impact of inflation and spiralling energy bills harder on families and individuals.

Jeremy Hunt’s Autumn Statement last week made clear that every single household will be asked to pick up the pieces of this avoidable mess for years to come.

It’s against this backdrop that councils all over the country are having no choice other than to pause or scrap what were once fully funded and shovel-ready projects like the leisure centre and train station. Any suggestion that this is a Calderdale problem is for the birds.

A leisure centre and housing projects in Folkestone and Hythe has been paused for the same reasons, and a leisure centre in Salford has just been shelved “in light of the rapidly worsening economic situation for the UK economy.” Councils have been put in this horribly unfair position in all parts of the country.

As inflation drives soaring construction costs, interest rates put borrowing out of reach and energy hikes mean the centres will cost more to run than ever before, councils have been forced to either pause these schemes, or go ahead knowing they might force them into yet further financial difficulties.

It’s a fight I’m taking to Parliament. Halifax deserves a new leisure centre. Our northern towns didn’t make this economic mess, we shouldn’t have to pay for it.