Extracts from Commons debate on Towns Fund - Feb 4

Friday, 5 February 2021 09:00

Justin Madders (Ellesmere Port and Neston) (Lab) [V]:...What about other funds? When will we see the new version of the shared prosperity fund We have left the EU, so we should have had that oven-ready to go a long time ago. Communities cannot wait while another complex set of opaque bidding procedures are cooked up... Patricia Gibson (North Ayrshire and Arran) (SNP) [V]:...That is why there is so much concern about the shared prosperity fund which is also looking suspiciously like it might...Request free trial

Justin Madders (Ellesmere Port and Neston) (Lab) [V]:...What about other funds? When will we see the new version of the shared prosperity fund We have left the EU, so we should have had that oven-ready to go a long time ago. Communities cannot wait while another complex set of opaque bidding procedures are cooked up...

Patricia Gibson (North Ayrshire and Arran) (SNP) [V]:...That is why there is so much concern about the shared prosperity fund which is also looking suspiciously like it might be perceived as just another political tool. We still do not know how the shared prosperity fund will work or when it will be made available, but we do know that the Scottish Government consultation on this fund shows a clear majority favouring a Scottish-led fund, reflecting Scottish policy priorities. We remember the grand words of the Communities Minister in 2019, when he said that, as far as the UK prosperity fund was concerned, the devolution settlement would be respected...

The Minister for Regional Growth and Local Government (Luke Hall):...The levelling-up fund will be open to all local areas and allocated competitively. We will prioritise bids that drive growth and regeneration in the places that need it most—those places that face particular local challenges in upgrading their infrastructure and those that have received less Government investment in recent years. We are also developing the UK shared prosperity fund which will succeed EU structural funds and provide vital investment in local economies, free of the bureaucracy that thwarted European funding. The new fund will allow us to target funding better and support those who are most in need. The towns fund, the levelling-up fund and the UKSPF will be vital tools for levelling up in our country.

I thank all Members for their contributions to this debate. The Government are levelling up: we want everybody, wherever they live, to benefit from increased growth and prosperity, and the towns fund is helping us to achieve that. We are investing in the places that need it most and putting local communities in charge of the decisions that affect them. The towns fund marks just the start of that. There is, of course, much more investment to come and much more to do through the levelling-up fund and the UK The Minister for Regional Growth and Local Government (Luke Hall) We want to see more towns such as Barrow, Torquay, Blackpool and Mansfield benefit so that everybody, wherever they live in our great country, can be part of a brighter and more prosperous future...

To read the whole debate, CLICK HERE