South Yorkshire mayor Dan Jarvis calls on Chancellor Rishi Sunak to fund new hospital for Doncaster in upcoming Budget

Commenting ahead of the Government’s upcoming Spending Review, Mayor Jarvis told Mr Sunak to ‘match the north’s ambitions to transform its economy.’.

The mayor put Doncaster in the spotlight on health inequality which is said to be ‘holding back the region’ and that building a new hospital along the town’s Waterfront and investing in Weston Park hospital in Sheffield will ‘transform’ people’s lives.

The current Doncaster Royal Infirmary site is hampered by a repair backlog of well over £100 million and missed out in the previous round of funding for new hospitals.

The mayor also called for a guarantee that new money to develop the region through the Shared Prosperity Fund will be ‘at least as generous as the EU’.

Mayor Jarvis added that other funds they replace should be allocated based on need, not ‘Westminster-led competitions’ – so local leaders ‘can help people find jobs and training’.

Mr Sunak should also ‘back South Yorkshire’s business investment pipeline’ in order to attract the ‘next generation’ of McLarens and Boeings to the region to create ‘thousands of good jobs’, Mayor Jarvis said

Doing so could ‘unlock nationally significant major aerospace research and manufacturing opportunities’, acting as a ‘catalyst to the creation of a world-leading, green cluster’ the mayor also said.

Mayor of South Yorkshire and Barnsley Central MP Dan Jarvis said: “This weekend the Government finally listened to calls by northern leaders for long overdue and much-needed funding for our transport network. This is a down-payment on the investment South Yorkshire and the North needs to be truly levelled up.

“Now we need central government to go further and make sure connectivity across the North is dramatically improved. That means the delivery in full, of Northern Powerhouse Rail and HS2, including the eastern leg to Sheffield and Leeds.

“However, levelling up cannot just be about infrastructure and photo ops for Ministers in hard hats and high-vis. It’s got to be about transforming people’s lives and unlocking opportunity and prosperity for the North. That requires game-changing investment in jobs, health and skills.

“As a Yorkshire MP, Rishi Sunak must understand how important this opportunity is to right a long-standing wrong and finally unlock the potential of the North. To do so, will be in the best interests of the whole country. On Wednesday, we will be watching closely to see if he is up to the challenge.”

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