The new Labour government could soon claw back millions of pounds promised to Scotland by Rishi Sunak’s government, Labour’s Scottish Secretary has said.
Ian Murray said many of the funding promises by the last prime minister “didn't have any cash attached".
by backupJM
11 comments
>The last government boasted that their “levelling up commitment” to communities totalled close to £2.7 billion, roughly £535 for every person in Scotland.
>Projects to receive money included the restoration of Edinburgh’s iconic Granton gasholder, the refurbishment of the Victorian grandstand in Inverness.
>There was also £37.4 million to create new commercial buildings, better cycling and walking routes and more electric vehicle charge points across North and South Ayrshire.
>Stirling Council won £19m for the regeneration of the Forthside area with 1000 job creation.
…
>Speaking to journalists, Mr Murray was asked if all spending commitments made by the previous government were being reassessed or if everything promised was nailed on.
>“Yes, a lot of this stuff is all under review,” he said. “It will all be announced in the budget and in the spending review, both for this next financial year and the three-year spending review that will happen in April next year.
>“So everything is under review, yes, because a lot of the stuff that was promised didn’t have any cash attached to it.”
>Mr Murray pointed to the £800m exascale supercomputer in Edinburgh University, which had its funding cut in August.
>He said: “This had been announced by three former prime ministers, two chancellors, and was in April’s budget, but nobody had ever asked the Treasury for any money.
>“So these were just headline-grabbing gimmicks without any money attached.
>“We’re trying to be honest with the public and say, look, some of these projects, of course, they’re all under review, and some of these projects may or may not happen, depending on where the Chancellor goes on 30 October.
What a surprise – the Tory Levelling Up agenda was just a fad. But it would be incredibly disappointing to see projects being denied money and not going ahead. Infrastructure/capital spending is crucial for economic growth, and many of these projects and local councils were reliant on this levelling up cash.
It is beyond staggering that Rishi Sunak is just being allowed to walk about normally without the papers absolutely hounding him on pie in the sky financials according to all of this. Just giving money about absolutely everywhere on vanity and vote winners without actually any long term commitment or genuine will to go through with it.
They’ll get away with it, they always fucking do.
You mean this rishi sunak, who was caught on video boasting about taking money away from deprived urban areas to fund £19 million in his very well of constituency?
https://youtu.be/xegB9J-mn1A
The levelling up funding was part of the UKGov’s answer to how EU Regional Development Funding would be replaced.
UKGov then decided that _they_ would choose how to spend it, unlike under ERDF where those decisions were determined at regional level.
In the case of Scotland that meant UKGov spending money in areas of devolved policy.
So now we have UKGov spending money that they raised through taxation in Scotland and borrowed on behalf of Scotland… and the Scottish electorate can’t hold the relevant ministers to account for those spending decisions.
In a normal country you pay tax and elect the government that spends that tax. Don’t like how they spend it? Vote them out.
The Granton Gasholder is nearly finished and Forthside in Stirling has been getting regenerated for years.
It’s not accurate to claim that these projects will not start unless this funding comes.
And “clawed back” isn’t the correct term for money that was promised by an outgoing government but never allocated. That phrase implies the money was given but had now been asked to be returned.
Most Scots can understand that promises made by the last Tory government will not be fulfilled now there’s a new one. The Ruanda plan and universal winter fuel payments are examples of this.
They’re certainly ‘fucking up royalty’ and it’s only weeks after the election.
I will never understand the people who voted to stay chained to this fucking clown show.
Ian Murray has to*earn* his peerage by doubling down on those ‘wayward’ Scotch. Otherwise Sir K will not be amused.
🤮🤮🤮
Maybe time to launch the Embassies
The money was never there. This isn’t the UK government taking money out of Scotland.
The last government said “you can have £xxm for this” but then never actually budgeted for that money. If I tell my friends I’m going to buy a Ferrari, but never pay for or budget for a Ferrari, I’m not losing a Ferrari. I’m a lying bastard. Rishi Sunak promised a lot of Ferraris.
This is tidying up the books. Risking bad headlines to get a proper picture of the UK financial state is good government.
Starmer the funding snatcher?