Leaders tell of concern over ‘facade’ of funding for regions
POLITICAL LEADERS in South Yorkshire have questioned the Government’s commitment to its levelling-up agenda and demanded answers as to why a bid for a freeport in the county was turned down.
The Mayor of the Sheffield City Region, Dan Jarvis, the leaders of Barnsley, Rotherham and Sheffield councils and the Mayor of Doncaster, Ros Jones, have raised concerns about perceived disparities in the allocation of funding from Westminster.
In a highly critical joint statement published yesterday afternoon, they described the distribution of resources around the country as a “hollow facade” that has benefited relatively affluent areas at the expense of more deprived towns and cities.
Their views relate to several recent policy announcements, including the Levelling Up Fund, the Community Renewal Fund, the Towns Fund and the announcement of freeports, one of which was awarded to the Humber rather than to a bid in South Yorkshire.
The South Yorkshire leaders highlighted the fact that Richmondshire, which includes Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s Richmond constituency, has been ranked higher in the Levelling Up Fund’s criteria above areas of South Yorkshire with higher deprivation, such as Barnsley and Sheffield. They also accused
Ministers of choosing 39 of the 45 Towns Fund recipients based on seats held by Conservative MPs, which they claimed is “an imbalance so marked it is impossible to believe it is a coincidence”.
The statement said: “The Government promised to put levelling up at the centre of their agenda. But since taking office, they have distributed resources in a way which shows that to be a hollow facade, driven by politics and expediency rather than any serious attempt to address the deep seated challenges facing the parts of the UK most in need of support.
“Behind the rhetoric, actual funding and support have been tilted towards areas that are already well off, while areas most in need of investment have been left behind.
Mr Sunak announced in the Budget earlier this month that areas around the Humber as well as Teesside were among eight locations nationally to be officially designated as freeports.
He said the freeports will have simpler planning, cheaper customs with favourable tariffs, VAT and duties, and tax breaks to encourage investment and job creation.
But the political leaders in South Yorkshire claimed their own bid for freeport status had been turned down despite scoring highly across many categories – including regeneration which they said was most closely linked to the levelling up agenda.
They said: “We deserve better from the nation’s leaders. They preach levelling up, but their actions reflect how little of a priority they really give to it.
A Treasury spokesperson said: “All ports across the country were eligible and the locations announced were chosen in a fair, open and transparent allocation process.”