The UK government has been accused on Friday of placing richer Conservative-held areas at the top of a list for receiving regeneration funding, leaving other more deprived regions behind
LONDON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 05th March, 2021) The UK government has been accused on Friday of placing richer Conservative-held areas at the top of a list for receiving regeneration funding, leaving other more deprived regions behind.
One of the areas that would first benefit from the assistance is the Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak's own seat, so the Labour Party has written to the minister to demand publication of the formula for the Levelling Up Fund's priority list, the Labour press office said.
"Labour supports funding for every region but it is crucial that it is done transparently, fairly and with a say for local communities. This Government is pitting regions and nations against each other for money that should reach communities as a matter of course," lawmaker Steve Reed, who is also the Labour's Shadow Communities and Local Government Secretary, was quoted as saying.
According to The Guardian newspaper, among 93 English regions placed in the priority group to receive money from the �4.8billion ($6.6 billion) leveling up fund, 31 are not ranked as most deprived in the average deprivation score.
The outlet added that of these 31, 26 are entirely represented by Conservative Party lawmakers, while the remaining five have at least one Conservative representative in Parliament.
Another of the government's development schemes, the Community Renewal Fund has allegedly prioritized seven seats of Cabinet ministers, including Sunak's and the Communities Secretary, ahead of other areas in need of funding.
Asked on Thursday about the government allegedly benefiting its own Constituencies over more deprived regions, prime minister Boris Johnson said that the "criteria was entirely objective," and claimed that his party's overwhelming victory in the 2019 general election meant that there are a lot of Conservative-held towns.
