Last week in Parliament, I raised the farce of Owen’s – the short-lived ‘family-fun factory’ whose boarded-up front is a familiar sight to anyone who has recently walked through our town centre.
Every time I walk past Owen’s I am angry. Angry about the stain it now leaves on Hastings town centre. Angry about the staff who lost their jobs with no warning. And angry about the £400,000 of taxpayer’s money wasted in funding this enterprise that we didn’t want or need.
Because under the Tory government’s Levelling up plans Owen’s received £400,000 – money which was allocated to rejuvenate Hastings for the benefit of all who live here. We all know what happened. It closed shortly after opening, and the deserted building now dominates the town centre. Instead of going to any the other many worthy causes, it was decided to hand over the sum to Owen’s, whose owner Lubov Chernukhin, has donated over £2 million to the Conservative Party.
Did the millionaire backer really need a top-up from the taxpayer to fund this venture? Was this truly the best use of the money given to Hastings to improve our town?
Owen’s is a shining example of the damage that 14 years of Conservative rule has done to our communities. Funds to improve our towns and public infrastructure were squandered in favour of cronyism and false promises.
Now, the new Labour government is beginning work to undo that damage.
The Labour government is determined to use every penny of taxpayers’ money wisely to make sure that the funds granted to us are used to improve our town, and not squandered away.
I will keep asking the questions that need to be asked and expose this scandal. For now I’d like to thank our local press who have worked so hard to expose what happened here - I know they’ll keep digging as will I.
Just because our Britain isn’t working now, doesn’t mean it can’t be fixed. The Tories beat the hope out of the country – but we will bring it back. For 14 years, they ducked difficult decisions and ran down public services. The new Labour government will deliver for working people and, in doing so, show that politics can changes lives.
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