UK Government must stump up city deal cash
This week I joined SNP colleagues from across Tayside, Perthshire, Angus and north east Fife in writing to the prime minister to demand clarity on the delivery of the important Tay Cities Deal.
The plan, which will be delivered in collaboration between Scottish and UK governments alongside investment from both public and the private sector, will deliver an economic boost for the area but has faced unnecessary delay.
I previously asked for a meeting with Liz Truss MP, the chief secretary to the treasury, but I was told that she would not meet me or my colleagues in Dundee and north east Fife to discuss the delays in progressing the deal. This was despite similar meetings being offered to members of her own political party.
The delivery of this deal should not be party political.
This will be of huge economic importance to the local area and it is essential that, despite our political differences, Members of Parliament get information from ministers so that we can serve our constituents as best we can.
I know that those behind projects vying to be a part of the deal are worried.
Many thought that the deal would be well on its way to being delivered by now.
Instead we have heard from Lord Duncan, the Scotland Office minister, that the UK Government may only finance 30 per cent of the deal.
The Scottish Government has, by contrast, always committed to fully funding city region deals across Scotland.
Indeed, in terms of the city region deals currently being funded, the Scottish Government has committed over £1.38 billion while the UK Government has committed only £1 billion.
This continual selling short of Scottish communities must not happen again in Tayside.
However, Ian Duncan’s comments are simply adding to these concerns that we will be sold short yet again.
Of course, this is not the only area in which Dundee, Perth and the wider Tayside region are set to lose out.
Dundee already saw its bid to be European Capital of Culture scuppered by Brexit, losing out on millions of potential investment as a result.
And not only that: the threat of a no-deal Brexit continues to loom large over the area and its wider economy.
Tayside and Fife are already suffering from the lack of migrant workers that our soft fruit sector relies on and this is only set to get worse in the coming years.
The prime minister cannot hide behind the fact that we are currently on parliamentary recess.
Just because she does not currently have to face MPs every week during prime minister’s questions does not take the heat away.
It is time that the UK Government commit to their end of the deal and engage with MPs from all parties to deliver this vital package of funding. Liz Truss, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury