MP questions uneven approach to levelling up
Political bias query over funds promised for deprived areas
ANEW fund meant to help “left behind” areas has been criticised for appearing to give priority to Conservativeheld boroughs over more deprived, Labourvoting ones.
Weaver Vale MP Mike Amesbury, whose constituency includes Runcorn, said he was “suspicious” about the government’s new £4.8bn Levelling Up Fund announced by the chancellor last week.
The fund is supposed to help deprived areas as part of the government’s promise to “level up” the North – a key part of its successful election campaign in 2019.
But analysis by several newspapers has suggested that it disproportionately benefits places that are represented by Conservative MPs, with less deprived Tory seats being placed into the fund’s “priority one” band ahead of more deprived Labour areas.
Mr Amesbury has written to the chancellor, Rishi Sunak, pointing out that Halton was in “priority two” but Mr Sunak’s Richmond constituency fell into “priority one”.
He said: “Throughout the pandemic, the government has reiterated that it wishes to offer support to areas most affected by Covid and those in the greatest economic distress.
“Halton, a part of my constituency, falls into this category, it is ranked 39th in the England deprivation index.
“By comparison, the local authority, Richmondshire, that covers part of your Richmond constituency ranks 251. Yet only one of those areas has been categorised in priority one, the higher need of the Levelling Up Fund, and it is not Halton.”
Analysis by the Financial Times suggests there may be some substance to Mr Amesbury’s concerns.
The FT found 14 boroughs that were less deprived than the national average but had been deemed “priority one”, all of which were represented by at least one Conservative MP.
The paper also found that Conservative areas “were consistently placed in a higher priority category than their deprivation level and many Labour voting areas in a lower one”.
The Labour Party has accused the government of skewing the fund for political gain, but the Treasury has claimed the priority bands “do not represent eligibility criteria” and promised to release more details of how money will be allocated in due course.
But Mr Amesbury has pointed to a number of other government funds that appear to disproportionately benefit Conservative areas.
This included the Town Deal Fund, which has attracted criticism for inviting bids from Conservative-held towns like Southport but ignoring more deprived Labour areas like Widnes and Runcorn.
He said: “I am sure the government would wish to avoid repeating the experience of the Towns Fund, over which the Public Accounts Committee raised serious concerns of politicisation and lack of transparency.
“Unfortunately, the people of Halton have been subject to a litany of broken promises even before the pandemic.
“In 2018, the Government failed to provide £40million of funding for Runcorn’s proposed new hospital campus, the second time rejection since 2010. The hospital and surrounding community are in desperate need of investment to deal with health, social and economic inequalities.”
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government declined to comment further on Mr Amesbury’s claims.