The Conservative Manifesto for 2019 promised “at least” to cover the average EU subsidy of around 1,5 1.5 billion a year to help the UK’s poorest regions. However, details of the government’s Welfare Fund show that it will distribute only 6 2.6 billion over the next three years and will not meet the previous level of EU funding of 1,5 1.5 billion a year until 2025. The settlement has been widely criticized by think tanks and political leaders, including the Welsh government, which has said it would lose more than 1 1 billion in funding over the next three years. The IPPR North think tank said the government’s Joint Welfare Fund fell by 43% in real terms compared to the EU average of 1,5 1.5 billion a year between 2014 and 2020. Dan Jarvis, the mayor of South Yorkshire, said his region owed 900 900 million in funding to meet what it would receive if the UK remained in the EU. However, it has received just over εκατο 38 million in a period of three years. He said: “This announcement is nothing more than an outrage. a cynical Conservative swindler who fails miserably in South Yorkshire and leads a bus and horses to the government’s leveling agenda. “ The Department for Leveling Up insisted that it had “fulfilled the UK Government’s commitment to cover the average cost of the EU Structural Funds” to 1,5 1.5 billion by 2025. It said the regions would continue to receive funding from the EU by the end of 2024. However, regional leaders and policy experts have accused the government of using “smoke and mirrors” to count old EU money over the next two years. The North Powerhouse Partnership, chaired by former Conservative Chancellor George Osborne, said regions in the north of England would receive up to 37% less funding from the new government fund than they would from the EU. In the north-east of England, one of the UK’s poorest regions, it was up 71 71.3 million over the next three years, he said. Serious cuts in regional economic growth in the north, with the Common Welfare Fund failing to meet previous funding as promised 📉 Liverpool City Region -34% Tees Valley -37% Greater Manchester -35% Cheshire & Warrington -35% Cumbria -36% Lancashire -35% North East -37% pic.twitter.com/I0HntqVvAA – The Northern Powerhouse Partnership (@NP_Partnership) April 14, 2022 Henri Murison, director of the North Powerhouse Partnership, said: “We were promised that no nation would be worse off after Brexit, but when you remove the smoke and the mirrors, the data does not lie. “These funds have helped young people find work, supported small businesses and supported vital medical research – cutting it will have devastating consequences for our economy.” Neil O’Brien, a leveling minister, took to Twitter on Thursday to defend the plan, insisting the government “actually matched what each party received on average from the [2014-2020] program”. However, this includes a number of old EU money that is still being delivered to these areas. IPPR North said the government’s promise to meet EU funding was “far from the truth” in two of the next three financial years. He described the announcement as a “serious blow to the uptrend” that would stifle ambitious long-term investment. While EU grants are delivered over a period of seven years, the Community Welfare Fund model is only valid for three years. “The UK Welfare Fund will help unleash the creativity and talent of communities that have long been overlooked and underestimated,” said Michael Gove, Rising Secretary.
