Dear Michael: You failed us. Yours, Susan
MICHAEL Gove, the UK levelling up secretary, has been told he has “failed” Glasgow after the city was rejected for any of the latest round of government funding.
Glasgow submitted seven bids for cash from the UK Government’s flagship funding pot, aimed at prioritising areas with high levels of deprivation.
But when the successful bids were announced, Glasgow was left with nothing.
It has prompted Susan Aitken, leader of the city council, to write to Gove to “express my extreme disappointment”.
The city put in funding bids for projects including a cap over the M8, the People’s Palace and Winter Gardens, and regeneration projects in Drumchapel, Easterhouse, Maryhill and Possilpark, home to some of the most deprived communities in the country.
The city was successful in the previous round, getting cash for the redevelopment of Pollok Park stables.
Aitken told Gove that on any measure, Glasgow should have received a far bigger share of the funding pot.
In a letter to Gove, the council leader said: “The announcement this morning takes the value of Levelling Up Fund projects in Scotland to £ 348m.
“Glasgow City, the largest local authority in Scotland with both the greatest need and opportunity, has been awarded 3.7% of this funding.
“Had the fund been allocated on a population basis, we would have received three times as much. Had it been funded on the size of our economy, we would have received five times as much.
“Had it been funded on proportion of people living in Scotland’s most deprived communities, we would have received 15 times as much.
“Nowhere offers a greater opportunity to level up than Glasgow. On every one of these metrics, you have failed the city.”
She added: “Glasgow cannot be allowed to suffer in this way, and I would once again request an urgent meeting with you to discuss how this can be addressed.”
A regional and national breakdown of the funding showed Scotland was given £ 177,206,114, compared to £ 208,175,566 given to Wales, £ 210,467,526 given to the South East, £ 354,027,146 given to the North West and £ 151,266,674 which went to London.
The Government has been criticised for giving levelling up funding to affluent areas in the south east of England, mainly represented by Conservative MPs, with 52 Tory constituencies getting cash, twice as many as Labour ones.
Gove defended the criteria and allocations. He said: “I think more of the money is going to Labour- led local authorities than to Conservativeled ones and that’s because the money’s been allocated according to a set of objective criteria and on the basis of deliverability.”