Levelling Up is a letdown for cash strapped city after reckless Brexit

THE UK has now passed the third anniversary of leaving the European Union, with very little positive to show for it.

Bloomberg has found that Brexit is costing the UK £100billion a year in lost output, with significant impact on investment and employment.

The Bank of England has noted the effect on growth, stating this week that it’s having a faster impact than they had anticipated.

Glasgow has been the hardest hit city in Scotland, with £255million lost due to the drop in exports.

These impacts are only the tip on the iceberg. Back in 2016, my office produced a report on the benefits of being in the EU for Glasgow. These included access to the Horizon research funding for our universities, in which Scotland punched above her weight, and Erasmus+ which facilitated educational exchanges across Europe for schools, community groups and further and higher education.

EU Structural Funds brought in significant investment in regeneration and infrastructure.

Since 2007, Scotland has received more than €1.7billion (£1.5billion), which the UK Government hasn’t come close to replacing.

It has shown little interest in

providing comprehensive equivalents to the EU funds which supported business growth and employment and training.

Analysis by the Scottish Government across EU funding streams shows Scotland is being severely short-changed by the UK Government, receiving 60 per cent less – £337million – than we would have received under the EU.

As the last pieces of EU funding peter out, it remains unclear

which funding streams will replace them. Fantastic urban green infrastructure projects in Glasgow, such as Clyde Gateway’s Cuningar Loop Woodland Park in Rutherglen and Malls Mire in Toryglen, are great examples of collaboration among funders but the UK Government’s commitment to this agenda is sorely lacking.

Its much-lauded Levelling Up Fund has been much delayed and has completely failed to deliver for communities. Instead of contributing to regeneration projects in Glasgow that would mend the historic tear in the fabric of our city caused by the M8 and protect the People’s Palace and Winter Gardens for future generations, money was instead diverted to wealthy constituencies such as Richmond in Yorkshire – coincidentally represented by the Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak.

It is pork-barrel politics at its worst.

It is even more galling that the UK Government appears to have changed the rules late in the day. Despite assurances to the contrary, local authorities who were granted funding in the first round were excluded from this round.

The regeneration of Pollok Stables was successful in the first round of funding last year and Glasgow was told that it was still eligible for bids in the other constituencies in the city and for a transport-related bid.

The UK Government’s own website still shows Glasgow as having seven bids remaining.

Yet, at the last minute, Glasgow’s bids were rejected without explanation.

My colleague Anne McLaughlin MP has secured a debate on this issue in Parliament tomorrow, where Glasgow’s MPs hope to get answers.

It’s simply unjustifiable that the UK Government would dismiss regeneration bids from Glasgow, while feathering the nests of Tory marginal seats in England.

At the last minute, Glasgow’s bids were rejected without explanation

All the Tories have done is feather their own nests while our communities and cities fail to receive any funding close to what we got before we left the EU