‘A neighbourhood spending lock: an idea Labour can unite behind’

Labour was elected in 2024 because people in seats like ours wanted change. While we represent seats in different regions, they share a common history: overlooked for far too long, held back from playing the fullest role in our national story. That is why, while the country voted for change, the cry for a new direction was strongest in the places we represent.

Since taking office last year, we have started to make good on our promises to these places. The Employment Rights Act will bring greater job security for those in precarious work – common in the seats we represent. More frontline police and named officers for every community is starting to tackle crime and antisocial behaviour that leave people feeling insecure. Pride in Place is investing directly in the places we represent and hundreds more across the country.

Yet these are just an initial downpayment on the change that our constituents voted for. The message from the local elections is crystal clear – the electorate want bigger, bolder action from the government. We were elected to reverse the decline of our communities. We must complete that task.

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That means looking beyond the latest headline, the latest curiosity in Westminster. It means asking ourselves: how can we fundamentally change the life chances of people in the seats we represent, not just for the next few years but for a generation. 

That’s why we are supporting calls for a Neighbourhood Spending Lock, a new approach to public spending which guarantees the most disadvantaged communities in seats like ours receive their fair share.

Each Budget, the Chancellor would allocate a certain proportion of day-to-day spending to a Neighbourhood Investment Fund. The Fund would invest in the types of places that Pride in Place is targeting, using a robust and widely accepted methodology: neighbourhoods with high levels of deprivation and low levels of social infrastructure. These places are sometimes called ‘doubly disadvantaged’ and tend to be found in seats like ours: post-industrial towns and villages, estates in cities particularly in the North and Midlands, and coastal communities across the country. 

The Fund could be spent on three things in eligible neighbourhoods. First, economic support to bring ‘good jobs’ back to these places. Second, public service improvements – targeted support for the NHS and schools, for example. Third, investment in social infrastructure; the parks, playgrounds, community centres and crucially the volunteers and organisations to run them, building on Pride in Place.

It would be seeking to address decades of historic injustices that our communities have faced. Public transport investment is far lower in every region outside the capital; depriving our communities of opportunities that are taken for granted in London. Research by the highly respected Institute for Fiscal Studies has shown that while public service spending is generally higher in deprived places, it is nowhere near as progressive as it should be. If spending were allocated more in accordance with need, seats like ours would receive millions more. 

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Crucially, it would bring a sense of dignity back to public spending. Instead of communities having to beg the Treasury for their fair share, it would put into statute their right to this entitlement.

It would also seek to rebuild trust in politics – to restore a faith that has been battered by a sense that politicians don’t do what they say. By enshrining the Neighbourhood Spending Lock in law, people in the places we live in can have faith that investment is protected in their communities for a generation.

Finally, at a challenging time for the Labour Party, it would send an extremely clear signal to the electorate that the government is on their side; that the government has heard the warning we were given at the local elections and is determined to put things right.

It would also create a clear dividing line with our opponents. If introduced through legislation, it would likely reveal that they – and particularly Reform – are, of course, not on the side of the communities we represent. This would serve as a helpful reminder in the coming weeks and months that Labour is the only party that truly stands up for working Britain.

While the media likes to describe the Parliamentary Labour Party as divided, we think in reality there is much that unites us. On paper, we might come from different Labour traditions, but in practice we are united behind a common cause: restoring hope to our post-industrial and coastal communities. A Neighbourhood Spending Lock would be a vital step towards that.  

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