SNP MSP Evelyn Tweed has called out the Westminster Tory Government for failing the people of Stirling and short-changing them by the equivalent of £2.6 million through the so-called Shared Prosperity Fund.
Following Brexit, which the majority of the people of Stirling did not vote for, the UK Government promised to replace every penny of the money Scotland previously received from the European Union. For this year, it is estimated that would have been £183 million.
However, figures just published show that Scotland will receive only £32 million this year. That is £151 million short of the £183 million promised and works out at an estimated equivalent of £2.6 million for Stirling.
Commenting, MSP Evelyn Tweed said: “The people of Stirling did not vote for Brexit, and yet here we are paying a very high price for this disastrous Tory obsession.
“Since the 1970’s EU funding has supported infrastructure projects and community initiatives across the country, with Scotland receiving and delivering more than £6 billion of EU Structural Funds.
“But now we are being short-changed again by the Tories, this time to the equivalent of £2.6 million. This adds insult to injury for the people of Scotland who largely voted to remain in the EU.
“What this demonstrates is that the Tories’ laughable term ‘levelling up’ actually means our communities are losing out, with Stirling facing losses as a result of being taken out of the EU against our will.
“Not only that, but the Scottish Government previously made decisions about how best to spend the EU money based on local priorities. Now a UK Tory Government – which Scotland did not vote for and hasn’t done for a lifetime – is cutting Scotland’s elected Government out of the decision-making process. That is both a betrayal of democracy and a disgrace that money will be spent on Tory priorities which will fail to meet the needs of communities in Stirling.
“The Tories cannot be trusted with Scotland’s future. Scotland deserves better than Partygate liar Boris Johnson’s litany of broken promises.
“By voting SNP in the local elections on May 5th, the people of Scotland will send a crystal clear message to Johnson’s Tories that they will never be trusted.”
NOTE
1. Scottish Government release on UK government’s announcement about EU replacement funds:
EU replacement funding £151 million less in first year
2. How the £151 million lost to Scotland would be broken down across Scottish local authorities on a pro-rata equivalent basis:
| Area name | Equivalent of… |
| Scotland | £151 million |
| Aberdeen City | over £6.3 million |
| Aberdeenshire | over £7.2 million |
| Angus | nearly £3.2 million |
| Argyll and Bute | nearly £2.4 million |
| City of Edinburgh | nearly £14.6 million |
| Clackmannanshire | over £1.4 million |
| Dumfries & Galloway | nearly £4.1 million |
| Dundee City | over £4.1 million |
| East Ayrshire | nearly £3.4 million |
| East Dunbartonshire | over £3 million |
| East Lothian | nearly £3 million |
| East Renfrewshire | nearly £2.7 million |
| Falkirk | over £4.4 million |
| Fife | over £10.3 million |
| Glasgow City | nearly £17.6 million |
| Highland | over £6.5 million |
| Inverclyde | over £2.1 million |
| Midlothian | nearly £2.6 million |
| Moray | over £2.6 million |
| Na h-Eileanan Siar | over £732 thousand |
| North Ayrshire | over £3.7 million |
| North Lanarkshire | over £9.4 million |
| Orkney Islands | nearly £619 thousand |
| Perth and Kinross | nearly £4.2 million |
| Renfrewshire | nearly £5 million |
| Scottish Borders | nearly £3.2 million |
| Shetland Islands | nearly £632 thousand |
| South Ayrshire | nearly £3.1 million |
| South Lanarkshire | nearly £8.9 million |
| Stirling | nearly £2.6 million |
| West Dunbartonshire | over £2.4 million |
| West Lothian | nearly £5.1 million |