Lend with caution, invest in our communities

I'm not convinced that our foreign loan schemes are doing enough to benefit local people, to be honest. We've got youth centres like mine in Bradford struggling to stay afloat, and yet we're still sending millions abroad. It's not that I don't want to help countries like Ukraine, but we need to think about the impact on our own communities first.

I think we should take a more holistic approach to lending, one that prioritizes community investment alongside national security. For every pound we lend to another country, we should be investing a pound in our own local services, whether that's youth work, policing, or high street regeneration. That way, we're not just throwing money at international problems, we're also building stronger, more resilient communities at home.