IAN Murray has been called on to act after the UK Government confirmed it had withdrawn a Scottish city’s levelling up funding.
SNP MP Pete Wishart has written directly to the Scottish Secretary after his inquiry about what had happened to some £5 million allocated to Perth under the Tory administration was rebuffed by the Treasury.
In a letter dated November 18, Alex Norris, Labour’s parliamentary under-secretary of state for local growth, told Wishart: “Given the need to make savings, the Government is minded to withdraw funding from the Levelling Up Culture Projects and Capital Regeneration Projects announced at Spring Budget 2024, including for Perth.”
Wishart has now called on Murray, whose Scotland Office is reportedly set to become a “spending department”, to step in.
Ahead of the General Election, Labour said they had £150m allocated to spend in Scotland, which evaporated after the vote. Labour said this was because of the “£22 billion black hole” left by the Conservatives, for which they have also blamed the withdrawal of levelling up funding.
“Perth and Kinross Council was snubbed in multiple rounds of funding, which left it as the only local authority in Scotland with a city not to receive a penny from the scheme, whilst other councils received tens of millions of pounds.
“Then, in the dying days of the Tory government, we were awarded a paltry £5m, only for it to be taken away again weeks later by the new Labour Government.
“Whilst we all have reservations about the true intentions of the Scotland Office’s recent funding boost, if the UK Government is serious about promoting ‘brand Scotland’, then this Ian Murray’s chance to put his money where his mouth is and offer the £5m to PKC in order to deliver these three fantastic projects once and for all.”
Wishart pointed to an increase in Scotland Office funding, which was laid out in the UK Government Autumn Budget and reported by The National.
Murray’s department is set for a 14% funding increase, despite other government departments having cuts imposed.
A UK Government spokesperson said: "After inheriting a £22 billion fiscal black hole from the previous government, this government had to make difficult choices to fix the foundations of the country and restore economic stability.
"The UK Government is consulting on the withdrawal of levelling up cultural funding awarded in the spring 2024 Budget."
