Member Article

Liverpool Mayor Anderson slams £290m EU funding cut

Liverpool Mayor, Joe Anderson, has blasted a £290m European funding cut to Liverpool City region, calling the decision “draconian”.

His comments come after a meeting last week where representatives from Liverpool and Sheffield met with Whitehall officials, when they were told to expect the same amount of funding for 2014-2020 as they received for the past three years from the European programme.

Officials from the city regions have estimated this will result in a 65% cut in comparison with the 2010-2013 budget, which has seen Liverpool receive approximately £440m.

The Government also recently reallocated £650m of EU funding from England for 2014-2020 to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, including £350m which the European Commission ring-fenced for poorer areas such as Liverpool City Region.

In a letter to the Business Minister, Michael Fallon, Mayor Anderson said he is “struggling to understand” the Government’s rationale to protect devolved regions from cuts when the impact on Liverpool will be a “draconian” cut to an area with lower GDP that Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland.

He said: “What is being proposed flies in the face of the whole purpose of the funding. It is explicitly designed to help areas such as ours which are lagging behind, to improve their economic performance.

“Instead we have a situation where the funding is effectively being robbed, and given to areas which aren’t as badly off. We are in the ludicrous position where we will lose out, while wealthier and more prosperous areas will gain.

“I am asking the Minister to review the decision on funding allocations, which are plainly and unfairly penalising areas such as Liverpool City Region. I will also be seeking the views of the European Commissioner.”

Between 2007 and 2013, Liverpool secured around £460m from the European Social Fund and European Regional Development Fund.

Liverpool and Sheffield have both argued a safety net should be applied to the new funding allocations to limit the reductions, and Mayor Anderson has pledged to raise the issue to the European Commission and MEPs.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Miranda Dobson .