Last week there was some
controversy locally around the amount of funding Cornwall received through the
EU. It was incorrectly claimed that Cornwall
would have received £100 million a year in EU funding had we remained part of
the European Union. I want to start this week’s column by saying that this is
absolutely not true.
As mentioned in last
week’s column, the Government has now confirmed
that Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly will receive £132 million in funding
between 2022 and 2025 to replace EU Structural Funding and help level up the county
via the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF). This is in addition to funding from
sources such as Town Deals and the Levelling Up Fund which will also be more
than £100million.
Local
opposition leaders in Cornwall have repeatedly argued that the UKSPF leaves
Cornwall with less than half of its replacement EU funding. However, research
from the independent House of Commons Library - an impartial and reliable source - shows
the reality that Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly received an average of just
over £50 million per year between 2010 and 2018.
The House
of Commons Library researchers also stated, regarding amounts that would have
been received had the UK remained part of the EU: “We don’t think it’s
possible to meaningfully estimate how much money the UK, or any part of it,
would have received if the UK was still in the EU… This is because if the UK
had not voted to leave the EU, then the EU budget for the 2021-27 framework
period - and therefore the EU funding allocations within that budget - would
have been made in a very different political environment…attempting to work out
what the resulting budget would have looked like therefore requires so many
assumptions as to make the result effectively meaningless.”
When the figure of £100 million
was first mentioned a few years ago, I asked the then council administration
for an explanation of where it had come from but didn’t receive one. I am still
open to someone providing a breakdown of this figure.
While I have no problem
with Cornwall Council bidding for £100 million a year as I believe it is wise
to ask for as much as possible, I do think it is wrong how this has been twisted
and portrayed by some as the Government breaking its promise. This is not based
on fact, but rather assumptions, projections and some wishful thinking, and it
is wrong to state that we have failed to deliver what we committed to do.
There is no question that
we all want Cornwall to receive as much as possible. However, misrepresenting
facts and figures to try and mislead people and play party politics does
nothing to help our cause in working with the Government. In fact, Cornwall now
has by far the largest amount of SPF funding per head of anywhere in England,
which will be used to directly tackle issues affecting communities unlike EU
funding, which was often wasted or poorly targeted.
It isn’t about how much we receive, but more importantly it is about how that
money is spent and used. We are no longer bound by the red tape that restricted
how we could spend EU money and the UKSPF will be managed by a local investment
partnership, who, as the name suggests, will be local and so have that
knowledge needed to know where this money can be best spent to improve Cornwall
once and for all. This local body will be able to set the priorities of how
this money will be invested. Also, importantly, this funding will not have to be
‘match funded’ as EU grants had to be. This will mean there will be much
greater flexibility for us to invest it into things that will really make a
difference to our local economy.
I also want to be very clear that this is
just the first part of the UKSPF and the Government has said funding will ramp
up in future years. I want to reassure you that there
is more to come and there is more to do. But for now, we are delivering
what we said we would, and we will continue to work to secure all future
funding available. I am delighted to be part of
a Government that is delivering for Cornwall.
If I can be of any help or assistance, my office
is available for any constituents needing help, advice or guidance – tel. 01726
829379, email – office@stevedouble.org.uk
