Scotland to get £193m at expense of English areas

SCOTLAND will receive a £193 million funding boost after UK ministers decided to increase its allocation of European funds at the expense of deprived areas in England.

The Scottish Government had been facing a 32 per cent cut in European Structural Funds to tackle poverty following Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron’s EU budget talks, at which he negotiated a real-terms cut in EU spending.

However, last night it was announced that Scotland would receive £674m between 2014 and 2020, a reduction of 5 per cent instead of the 32 per cent it would have got under the EU funding guidelines based on need.

Similarly, Northern Ireland’s allocation is up £154m to £388m, and Wales up £318m to £1.82 billion, as they both also took a cut of just 5 per cent.

But the losers are the English regions which have seen their recommended funding level cut by £665m to £5.24bn.

Downing Street last night insisted that the decision had “nothing to do with the independence referendum” in Scotland.

Liberal Democrat Scottish Secretary Michael Moore said: “By sharing the cut in EU structural funds across the UK, the government is protecting Scotland from the big cut we would otherwise receive.

“Scotland will now get £193m more than it would if the EU funding formula was applied directly.”

He pointed out that if Scotland was independent, it would have been forced to accept the full cut in structural funds.

He said: “By being in the UK, Scotland has not only got a better EU budget deal; we will also get better funding from Brussels – creating jobs and supporting communities.

“Just a few weeks ago the Scottish Government put out a scare story saying Scottish funding was set to fall by 32 per cent.