May’s 'Brexit Bung' offers £25m to the East over a seven year period
East of England towns offered £25m 'Brexit Bung'
First it was £1bn to the DUP to keep her Government in power now its Brexit 'Bung' money to cash strapped poorer towns. English towns are to get a £1.6bn funding boost over a seven year period as part of a package of measures clearly aimed at winning MPs support for Theresa May's Brexit deal.
Most of the Stronger Towns Fund is to be allocated to English leave-voting towns in the North and Midlands and is intended to offset the economic impact of Brexit and comes just days before the House of Commons is due to have a meaningful vote on Theresa May's withdrawal agreement. According to the Cabinet Office the East of England will receive around £25m(3.57m pa) in the period until 2026.
Theresa May said: "the funding was delivering on the promise that Brexit would change things for the better.
Communities across the country voted for Brexit as an expression of their desire to see change. That must be a change for the better, with more opportunity and greater control".
£1bn will be allocated by the government and the remaining £600m will be available through a bidding process to communities in any part of the country. No 10 said communities would be given some say about how to spend the money in their towns
Communities Secretary James Brokenshire, "insisted the money would have a "transformative" impact and stated that the funding would be made available no matter what happened with Brexit"
He said "it was evidence that the government had listened to people's concerns about change and upheaval in their communities. He added that the money would give towns that had been left behind, the resources to build "a more prosperous future beyond Brexit".
Reports in the Financial Times however echo what we have been reporting on this site for months, that councils will be suffering from a £5.8bn funding gap by 2020. Many have been forced to close all but essential services while still struggling for money.
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