(Enfield
North) (Lab) [V]: The Government have promised a shared
prosperity fund to replace EU structural funding for
regeneration and growth since 2017. Despite originally promising a
consultation, we have not seen one. There have not even been any
engagement events since the Prime Minister took office. When will
the Minister publish the framework through which the shared
prosperity fundwill work, to keep it accountable and
prevent pork barrel politics and bungs to target seats?
The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the
Cabinet Office (): The hon. Lady makes an important point. The Secretary
of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government will
outline how the shared prosperity fund will be
distributed. She is right: as a result of our departure from the
European Union, we will have more money to spend on our
priorities, and we will, of course, spend that money on what the
Prime Minister has called the levelling-up agenda. There are
parts of our country—overlooked communities and undervalued
families—that have been neglected by Labour local authorities for
far too long and now have Conservative MPs in this place, and it
is vital that their advocacy on behalf of their constituents to
improve their productivity is supported. That is why everything
from new free ports to increased investment will go to those
areas that have been neglected by Labour for far too long.
