Prime Minister hails Bradford's 'huge' £2 billion investment

The Prime Minister dropped in for a visit to Sunny Bank Mills, in Farsley this afternoon, where he spoke with local people and many of the 100 tenants who use the complex.

After also taking part in a jewellery workshop at Emma White Jewellery Studio, he spoke with reporters about a number of issues affecting both Bradford and Leeds.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak next to Emma White, holds a piece of metal during a meeting with small business owners from Sunny Bank Mills, at The Emma White Jewellery Studio in Sunny Bank Mills. (Image: PA)

Mr Sunak talked about “repurposing HS2 money across the North” and as part of that he mentioned plans for “huge investment” of £2 billion for a new rail station, as well as faster connections to Manchester.

He also addressed a mass transit system for West Yorkshire.

The PM said: “There’s going to be significantly more funding for West Yorkshire mass transit as a result of the decision I made on HS2.

“We’re repurposing every penny of the money that would have been spent on HS2 expansion and deploying that across the North – so, almost £20 billion. And a big chunk of that has been kept aside to deliver mass transit.”

He added: “So it can be delivered in full because, previously, there wasn’t full funding available.”

Mr Sunak continued: “This was a long-term decision that I made because I thought it was better to spend that money on projects exactly like that as well as across the North – we’re fully electrifying all the lines from Hull to Leeds to Sheffield to Manchester, for example.

“Again, that’s £3 billion worth of investment that’s going to considerably improve frequency and capacity across all those places.”

After the announcement of the Autumn Statement, there was disappointment in Bradford that funding for councils, which are struggling with budgets to fund services and children’s services, were left out.

When asked why these issues were not included, Mr Sunak said this was addressed shortly after he became Prime Minister.

He added: “On average, councils now have 10 per cent more to spend on services, and social care has also received extra funding.

“In the Autumn Statement we focused on cutting taxes for people and businesses to get the economy performing.”

A spokesperson for Sunny Bank Mills said: “It was a great honour to welcome the Prime Minister to Sunny Bank Mills.

“Many of tenants and occupiers got the chance to talk with the Prime Minister in a relaxed environment and tell him about what we’ve achieved over the last 10 years.”