The UK regional rebalancing fund, created by Boris Johnson's post-Brexit government,
'brings in only 60%'
of the money previously provided by the European Union before Britain left the EU. EU, says a parliamentary report on Thursday 27 January.
“The government has said that the UK Fund for Shared Prosperity will be the successor to the EU Structural Investment Funds
,” notes this report from the parliamentary committee on the Treasury.
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Boris Johnson, in his Brexit campaign, claimed that EU funds would at least be matched by the UK becoming independent again.
However, the British government, which has made regional rebalancing (levelling up) one of its hobbyhorses,
"provides only 60% of the money provided by EU funds"
, note the authors of the report.
“If the new fund is supposed to be one of the centerpieces of government ambitions, it is surprising to see the size of this fund reduced in this way
,” they insist.
Renaming existing programs will not have the desired impact.
»
The authors of the report
The report also urges the pro-Brexit Conservative government of Boris Johnson to give
“more details on how regional rebalancing will be measured and achieved”
and warns that
“renaming existing programs will not have the desired impact”
.
Downing Street had notably announced 7 billion pounds at the end of October for the renovation of trains and buses, from which it emerged later that a large part of the funds had already been allocated and announced before.
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Many British regions or cities have largely depended on European funds before Brexit for their investments and redevelopment, especially deindustrialized regions.