Treasury thinks Norfolk is for 'pensioner dumping', MP fears

George Freeman, the science minister and MP for Mid Norfolk, made the comments at a panel discussion organised by the ‘Eastern Powerhouse’ - a business-led group which seeks to drive economic growth in the region.

In another remark which will raise eyebrows in Westminster, he described the Conservatives’ ‘levelling up’ agenda as “the one bit of this government’s 2019 manifesto that is still noble and still inspiring”.

He also said that Labour were “laudably” succeeding in “owning” the policy.

Mr Freeman's comments about "dumping" pensioners and housing in the region came during a discussion about how he considered the Treasury was failing to enable the region to become “the new California”.

He said: “I really worry, at the moment, the Treasury looks at Cambridge as a huge incubator of unicorn tax revenues, looks at the rest of East Anglia for house dumping and pensioner dumping and doesn’t view East Anglia as the new California, which with really good connectivity - digital, bus, road, rail, it’s not a very big place - we could dramatically raise the productivity of the whole region.”

Mr Freeman said he was concerned the Treasury saw East Anglia as a place for house dumping (Image: Chris Bishop)

He added that when it came to devolving powers from Westminster, “the Treasury are quite focused on urban metro mayor models”, with the same treatment not being given to larger rural areas.

Mr Freeman, who serves as a minister of state under business secretary Grant Shapps, has notched up several years in government, having previously held senior roles under prime ministers David Cameron, Theresa May and Boris Johnson.

He told the panel he was “determined to change the orthodoxy” in Whitehall on nurturing cutting-edge industries across the UK. 

He said: “I think we’re resonating and boy do we need to, because if we’re really going to make this traumatic decade of referenda and pandemics and wars and political up[heaval]-, if it’s going to leave a legacy, it seems to me absolutely key that the economic decentralisation of this state, the empowering of the places that are actually on the frontline of driving growth and opportunity, has to be the central legacy.

Former prime minister Boris Johnson, pictured during the 2019 general election. Mr Freeman suggested 'levelling up' had become the one part of the party's 2019 manifesto which still inspired voters (Image: PA Wire/PA Images)

“I think interestingly, politically, it’s the one bit of this government’s 2019 manifesto that is still noble and still inspiring and still cutting through.

“And the Labour party have spotted it and are now very laudably and rapidly, seamlessly and cleverly, owning it, so hopefully this agenda will survive whoever is still in government.”

The railway line at Wymondham. Mr Freeman said he wanted to see business hubs established along its route to enable companies to relocate into the so-called 'Cambridge-Norwich Tech Corridor' (Image: Noah Vickers/Local Democracy Reporting Service)

Mr Freeman later said he wanted to see business hubs established in towns like Wymondham, Attleborough, Thetford and Ely, enabling companies to buy relatively cheap commercial space while having easy rail access to Cambridge and Norwich. 

Similar plans are currently on the table in Attleborough and Thetford as part of the ‘Future Breckland’ project, commissioned by Breckland Council.