Councils have warned the Government that its partial guarantees on EU funding fall well short of what is needed, with Cornwall Council warning it could still lose out on ‘hundreds of millions of pounds’ from Brexit.
The news follows a Local Government Association (LGA) campaign for local funding from the EU to be guaranteed by government.
The EU Parliament
Cornwall Council has estimated it would lose £350m if the UK left the European Union and has pledged its support to the LGA campaign for EU funds to be honoured.
Chancellor Philip Hammond announced at the weekend the Treasury would cover all structural and investment fund projects paid for by the EU on the condition the agreements were reached before the Autumn Statement.
The Treasury also announced that it would assess 'whether to guarantee funding for specific structural and investment fund projects that might be signed after the Autumn Statement, but while we remain a member of the EU' - with further details coming ahead of the Autumn Statement.
It also pledged to 'underwrite the payment of awards' won from the EU on a competitive basis while we are still a member, such as universities participating in Horizon 2020, 'even when specific projects continue beyond the UK’s departure from the EU,' officials said.
However, the LGA argued Whitehall’s promise ‘falls well short of the full guarantee we are urging the Government to make.’
Julian German, Cornwall’s cabinet member for economy and culture, said: ‘The limited guarantee for some schemes leaves Cornwall hundreds of millions of pounds short of what we were promised we would receive by MPs who backed the Brexit campaign.'
‘Major funding streams such as contracts for EU structural funds and European Maritime Fisheries projects beginning after the Autumn Statement have no guarantee of continuation at all. This simply isn’t good enough.’
Cornwall voted to leave the EU in the referendum, despite the European economic regeneration programme, the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Growth Programme, being worth nearly €604m.
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