Allocation of regeneration funds to Tory areas ‘fishy’, says Keir Starmer

Boris Johnson says imbalance reflects fact that more areas went Tory in election

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has said it is “fishy” that the government has allocated the lion’s share of £1 billion in regeneration funding to Conservative-held areas just weeks ahead of local elections, saying: “It feels like pork barrel politics”.

But Boris Johnson defended the fact that 40 out of 45 areas receiving money were represented by Tories, suggesting that it was simply a reflection of the fact that more constituencies went Conservative at the 2019 general election.

Among the areas receiving grants under new towns deals in Wednesday’s Budget were the seats of cabinet minister Robert Jenrick (Newark, £25m), as well as former Red Wall seats won by Tories from Labour in the election, like Grimsby (£20.9m), Wakefield (£24.9m) and Workington (£23.1m).

Meanwhile, a new £4.8bn levelling up fund announced in Rishi Sunak’s Budget included leafy Richmondshire, in his own North Yorkshire constituency, on the top priority list for support, alongside the seats of cabinet members Mr Jenrick, Simon Hart (Pembrokeshire), Alister Jack (Dumfries and Galloway) and Brandon Lewis (Great Yarmouth).

The areas were favoured above much-poorer Barnsley, Flintshire, Coventry, Plymouth, Salford and the Wirral, all relegated to the second priority tier for money to support “town centre and high street regeneration, local transport projects, and cultural and heritage assets”. 

The prospectus for the levelling up fund, published on Wednesday, states that cash will be targeted towards places in England, Scotland and Wales with “the most significant need” for economic recovery and growth, improved transport connectivity and regeneration.

Sir Keir said:  “If we look at the towns fund there are 45 areas and 40 of those areas are where there is a Conservative MP.

“I think lots of people would scratch their heads and say ‘what is going on here?’

“This should be going where it is really needed and the Government needs to publish the criteria for this because 40 of the 45 going to Conservative areas, this feels like pork barrel politics.”

He added: “We have no issue with areas getting funding, of course we need funding across the whole of the UK.

“We have had a decade where the economy has been stalling, there needs to be investment, we all want to see that funding going in.

“But it has got to go in properly, to the areas that most need it, and it has got to go in in a transparent way.

“If you end up with a list of 45 areas where the funding is going in and, by coincidence, 40 of them are where there is a Conservative MP, most people would say ‘what’s going on here, this looks fishy’.”

Confronted on the issue during a visit to Teesport, which was awarded potentially lucrative freeport status shortly before Tory mayor of Tees Valley Ben Houchen stands for re-election, Mr Johnson brushed aside suggestions that Conservative areas were being favoured.

“I think if you look at the map, one of the functions of the election is clearly that there are a lot of Conservative-represented towns – I think that is just a basic electoral fact,” said the prime minister.

“I’ve asked about this and I’m told that the criteria was entirely objective – it takes in data on poverty, employment and so on.

“We want to unite and level up across the whole country and want to do it in a completely impartial way, so that’s what we are doing.”

Mr Sunak said that the formula for grants under the levelling up fund is based on “an index of economic need which is transparently published”.

He said it was “based on a bunch of objective measures so that will be there for people to have a look at”.

The chancellor added: “No area is excluded for bidding – it’d just that those areas, on the basis of this formula, might need a bit of extra help, so we’re giving those local areas some money to put their bid together to help them.”

Plaid Cymru’s leader at Westminster Liz Saville Roberts said that arrangements for the levelling up fund require MPs to bid for money to Welsh secretary Simon Hart, who takes the position of a “feudal overlord” in a system which bypasses the Welsh government entirely..

“This is the most brazen attack yet on Wales and our democracy,” she said.

“Our public money is being snatched for the Budget of Tory bungs. This is not ‘levelling up’ but a stitch up.”

Previous allocations of funding through the towns fund have also raised eyebrows.

In November 2020 the cross-party Commons Public Accounts Committee said the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) had “not been open” about how towns were selected.

“This lack of transparency has fuelled accusations of political bias in the selection process, and has risked the Civil Service’s reputation for integrity and impartiality,” the committee said in a report.