UK will be ‘levelled up’... by 2048

A FLAGSHIP fund for “levelling up” those left-behind regions will not be delivered until the middle of the century, Labour has claimed.

Just 8 per cent of the Government’s “levelling up fund” has been spent two years after it was first announced.

Ministers launched the £4.8 billion fund in November 2020 as part of the Conservatives’ pledge to reduce regional inequalities.

However, a Freedom of Information request has revealed that, as of Feb 22, just £392million of the fund has been spent. With this equating to an average of £14.5million per month, Labour have calculated that at the current rate it would take until June 2048 for the fund to be delivered in full.

The party said that it would take even longer for communities to see the benefits of the projects which have been promised funding. The 8 per cent figure was revealed in the House of Commons last week by Lisa Nandy, the shadow levelling up secretary.

Yesterday, Ms Nandy linked the issue to the decision to abolish the pension lifetime allowance in the Budget – something which Labour said will only benefit the wealthiest 1 per cent.

She said: “It sums this Government up that in the recent Budget they spent three times more on a tax cut for the richest 1 per cent, than they have spent in over two years on a Levelling Up Fund for our poorest communities.

“They can get their act together when it comes to the 1 per cent, but when it comes to investment in our town centres, local transport or decent housing, the rest of us just have to wait.”

The Department for Levelling Up, said the claims are “misleading” and “wrong”, adding that the analysis did not take account that the prospectuses for the rounds of funding that have so far been allocated made clear the money will be spent over three years.