Labour leader tells campaign rally he wants more renewable energy, improved broadband and regional investment bank
Jeremy Corbyn has pledged billions of pounds of investment in south-east England, where Ukip has gained traction in recent years.
Speaking at a re-election campaign rally in Ramsgate, Kent, on Saturday, the Labour leader said that a future Labour government would place greater emphasis on renewable energy for coastal communities and improved broadband connectivity. He will also back an investment bank for the English region.
“Labour’s investment commitment means delivering over £30bn for the south-east, and making sure that this funding goes to the places that need it most.
“I want to see a new regional investment bank for the south-east that will focus on turning around the places that have been on the wrong side of the decisions made elsewhere. For Ramsgate, like other coastal towns, that commitment to invest means opening up the opportunities that are there.
“We have huge natural resources in the UK, a world-beating history of scientific research and technological development – including for many years at the Sandwich centre, just down the road from here. And we have talent that is simply going to waste at present because of a lack of investment.”
Corbyn said: “We should be talking about how to restore pride and prosperity to those places in so-called left-behind Britain. But we won’t get there with the failed old model.”
He cited Cornwall’s £130m project to bring in superfast broadband, which has brought it one of the fastest growing digital economies in the country. “This investment should be extended east into Kent to unlock potential in coastal towns across the Garden of England.
“Small businesses in the south-east have nearly 20% of the national turnover, but receive only 13% of bank lending. Our current banking system is letting our small businesses down.
“Labour will turn that around. With new institutions under local control, with a clear public interest mandate, we’ll give real power back to local communities to determine their own futures to rebuild and transform Britain, to ensure that no-one and no community is left behind,” he said.
Ramsgate is in Thanet, where Ukip controls the council, holding 29 seats compared with Labour’s five. Corbyn, who is fighting a leadership challenge from Owen Smith, hopes to win over voters alienated by the last Labour government.
He is the overwhelming favourite to retain the Labour leadership, and a YouGov poll gives him a 24-point lead.
Smith’s campaign team have asked Labour MPs to phone around undecided local party members with personal appeals to back the contender, in a last-ditch attempt to overturn Corbyn’s lead.
The result of the leadership race is due to be announced the day before the Labour conference at the end of the month.