A new report setting out how Scotland received almost \u00a38 billion of European funding, helping create some 235,000 new jobs, serves as a \u201cstark reminder\u201d of what the country has \u201clost\u201d because of Brexit, the Deputy First Minister said.<\/p>\n
Kate Forbes spoke out as a new study by academics at the University of Strathclyde into the impact of European Union development programmes was published.<\/p>\n
Commissioned by the Scottish Government, the research looked at how more than 60 such schemes operated over five decades, from 1975 to this year, when these ended in Scotland following the UK\u2019s departure from the EU back in 2020.<\/p>\n
Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes said the report was a \u2018stark reminder of what Scotland has lost since Brexit\u2019 (Jane Barlow\/PA)<\/p>\n
The report found Scotland received more than \u00a37.7 billion in EU Cohesion Policy funding over 50 years, with this creating 235,000 new jobs.<\/p>\n
In addition the money helped safeguard 60,000 more jobs, supporting more than 260,000 businesses.<\/p>\n
European cash helped pay for improvements to roads, harbours, ferry links and IT networks, particularly in the Highlands and Islands, the report stated, with projects including the Glasgow Science Centre, the Falkirk Wheel and the Scalpay Bridge on the Isle of Harris, amongst those to benefit.<\/p>\n
Scotland benefited massively from EU funding over a long periodProfessor John Bachtler, University of Strathclyde<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Speaking as the research was published, Ms Forbes said: \u201cThis report is a stark reminder of what Scotland has lost since Brexit.<\/p>\n
\u201cMore than five decades of EU investment delivered tangible benefits for communities across the country, creating hundreds of thousands of jobs and helping to build iconic infrastructure from the Falkirk Wheel to the University of the Highlands and Islands.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Deputy First Minister added: \u201cSince being removed from the EU against our will we\u2019ve lost access to vital funding streams and businesses face damaging new barriers to trade.\u201d<\/p>\n
She spoke out after Professor John Bachtler, who led the study with colleagues Rona Michie and Rachel Maguire, told how \u201cScotland benefited massively from EU funding over a long period\u201d.<\/p>\n
Professor Bachtler noted Scotland was the third largest recipient from the European Regional Development Fund, which was first set up in the mid-1970s.<\/p>\n
This money, he said, helped the country \u201cto cope with the impacts of deindustrialisation through investment in new infrastructure, environmental remediation of industrial sites, new business formation and employment and training schemes, especially in the Central Belt\u201d.<\/p>\n
The expert added: \u201cThe University of the Highlands and Islands would probably not have come into being without EU funding, but it wasn\u2019t just big projects that received funding.\u201d<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, report co-author Ms Michie said: \u201cScotland was a pioneer in Europe in \u2018community development\u2019, giving local communities in both urban and rural areas the opportunity to develop projects that improved local quality of life and employment opportunities \u2013 the regeneration of town centres, community halls, care facilities and tourism promotion.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A new report setting out how Scotland received almost \u00a38 billion of European funding, helping create some 235,000…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":579333,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5226],"tags":[802,748,2000,299,5187,1699,4884,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-579332","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-brexit","8":"tag-brexit","9":"tag-britain","10":"tag-eu","11":"tag-europe","12":"tag-european","13":"tag-european-union","14":"tag-great-britain","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115573524093777613","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/579332","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=579332"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/579332\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/579333"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=579332"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=579332"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=579332"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}