York and North Yorkshire’s elected mayor has welcomed the ‘biggest landmark budget in decades’ amid a promise of investment for the region.
Mayor David Skaith has welcomed the chancellor’s budget and a “huge” announcement to lift the two-child benefit cap, as well as promising £13bn of funding for seven mayors – including York and North Yorkshire’s – to invest in skills, business support, and infrastructure.
He said:
“I think it’s a great opportunity, because we know that 17 per cent of children in York and North Yorkshire are living in poverty. Being able to lift those children out of poverty and putting more money in the pockets of all hard-working people right across York and North Yorkshire is absolutely key.”
He added:
“And for us to have that longer-term business supplement as well, we will be able to drive more money into more businesses, into the region, to make them more profitable and be able to really show how much our economy is thriving.”
Kevin Hollinrake, the MP for Thirsk and Malton and chairman of the Conservative Party, said:
“A £3bn-a-year bill for scrapping the two-child limit, and it’s the taxpayer who’s picking up the tab – not Labour.
“Those who graft should not be paying for unlimited welfare.”
Mayors will also get new power to invest in their areas and drive growth through a charge on overnight stays.
Mr Skaith has long campaigned for a visitor tax which he has described a “game changer” for the region.
Some hoteliers have already said they are “deeply concerned” by the proposal’s implications for businesses and tourism.
The Mayor said that he will be “very much about working with the local authorities, working with businesses, working with the tourism sector as a whole, to really bring them all on the journey together and actually work out what we want to see from such a levy, how it’d work, how it’d be collected”.
He suggested that with 41 million visitors to the region every year, a “modest levy” could raise £50m for York and North Yorkshire to “turbocharge investment into things like transport, but also really boost investment into the tourism and hospitality sector, which is so badly needed”.
Asked whether he was confident about getting the tourism sector on board with the plan, Mr Skaith told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) that he recognised concerns and that the announcement was “just the first step”.
He added that funds raised could be used to “improve transport connectivity rights across the region” for both visitors and residents to enable easier and more sustainable travel.
Alison Hume, the Labour MP for Scarborough and Whitby, told the LDRS:
“Local coastal communities absolutely should benefit from a simple tourist tax.
“Mayor Skaith knows the importance of demonstrating that every pound generated locally is spent locally on our transport and infrastructure, not funnelled into a combined York and North Yorkshire pot.”
She added:
“For tourism and hospitality businesses in this area to support a tourist tax, figures demonstrating revenue raised, where it has been raised and where it is being spent would have to be transparent and easily accessible.”
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