South Yorkshire mayor: Levelling up fund is an ‘outrage’

The new £2.6bn UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) leaves councils short compared with old EU structural funding systems, according to a leading northern politician. 

South Yorkshire has been allocated £38m in new regeneration money from the so-called ‘levelling up fund’ over the next three years, leading the region’s leadership to brand the deal an ‘outrage’ compared with investment systems under the EU. 

In total, £2.6bn will be available through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund, which is to be spent on regenerating high streets, tackling anti-social behaviour and crime and helping people find good jobs. The overall intention being to stop economic decline, reverse geographical disparities in the UK, and revive communities. 

The UK government has said it is committed to matching the previous levels of funding from the EU’s European Social Fund and European Regional Development Fund, and claims the UKSPF is more flexible, localised and less bureaucratic.

However, the outgoing mayor of South Yorkshire, Dan Jarvis, has now criticised the amount of money his area is set to receive in comparison with the old, pre-Brexit system, which saw the region given €410m for 2007-2013, before this was cut to around €180m from 2014-2020.

‘This announcement is nothing more than an outrage; a cynical Conservative con that utterly fails South Yorkshire and drives a coach and horses through the Government’s Levelling Up agenda,’ said Jarvis. 

‘Instead of delivering the additional £900m South Yorkshire is owed, and that I’ve consistently pushed the Government to deliver, we’ve been given little over £38m over a 3-year period,’ he continued. ‘This announcement has been sneaked out just a few hours before purdah and with Parliament in recess – it exemplifies this Government’s complete contempt for people in our region.’

Find out more about the levelling up fund here.

Image credit: Harrison Qi