During her time at No10, Rachel Reeves announced 350 communities would benefit from additional support for pools, listing Blackpool South, Stockport, Stoke Central, Swindon North, Newcastle Upon Tyne East and Wallsend when delivering the news.
All these areas have Labour MPs, with Conservative and Liberal Democrat politicians repeatedly criticising the Government for letting the £80million Swimming Pool Support Fund expire without a replacement.
Responding to the criticism yesterday, Lisa Nandy, the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Secretary, told the Commons ministers will create a new system to support “public leisure facilities”.
Speaking in the chamber, she told MPs: “I can tell the House that we are creating a public leisure facilities programme that will provide support for lidos and other swimming facilities, and that, thanks to the work that he and others have done to campaign for this, the programme will include the first dedicated fund for lidos that this country has produced.”