Levelling up cash for wealthy area in Sunak constituency

A LOCAL authority in Rishi Sunak’s constituency is one of the “most in need” of grant funding despite being one of the richest in the UK, the Government said last night, amid a growing row over “pork barrel” spending.

Priority areas for the Government’s £4.8 billion “Levelling Up” fund – including Richmondshire in Mr Sunak’s North Yorkshire constituency – will receive grants to improve infrastructure, local high streets and museums.

On Wednesday, it emerged that the priority list contains local authority areas in the constituencies of five Cabinet ministers.

Richmondshire ranks 251 out of 317 on the Government’s index of deprivation, which also places it in the top 21 per cent of areas in the UK by wealth.

The Treasury last night refused to reveal the criteria on which the Levelling Up top priority areas had been decided, but insisted they were the “most in need” of funding.

The Daily Telegraph understands that the criteria are loosely based on a local area’s need for economic recovery and growth, improved transport connectivity, and regeneration. Andy Burnham, the Mayor of Greater Manchester, yesterday said ministers were “sailing close to the wind”. “In our part of the world, people might struggle to see how North Yorkshire and Richmond is a tier-one place for access to the Levelling Up fund whereas Salford is a tier-two priority,” he told the BBC.

“I’m looking forward to seeing the ministers’ criteria they’ve used. They’ve said that they’ll publish it, I think they need to do that today or tomorrow.”

Mr Burnham added: “If you’re going to have a levelling-up agenda it has to be, by definition, needs-led.”

Sir Keir Starmer said the calculations looked “fishy”. The row comes after it emerged that 90 per cent of towns allocated money from the Government’s Towns Fund in the Budget are Tory-held.

Boris Johnson yesterday said the criteria for deciding which towns received funding were “entirely objective, looking at data, poverty, employment”.

A Treasury spokesman said: “All local areas in the UK will be able to apply for funding through the Levelling Up fund. The bandings do not represent eligibility criteria and money will be allocated to the areas most in need. Further technical details will be published by the Government in due course.”