THE UK Government has announced plans for £1.4 billion of “direct investment” in Scotland over the next 10 years.
The details of the funding, which will bypass Holyrood, were laid out by Scottish Labour on Friday.
Many of the announcements are confirmations of “levelling up” funding, a project begun under the Tories. The UK Government replaced EU funding – which had been controlled by the Scottish Government pre-Brexit – with funding that they directly controlled.
In the Labour manifesto, Keir Starmer’s party pledged to “restore decision-making over the allocation” of those funds “to the representatives of Scotland”. However, they actually moved control to the Scotland Office, rather than restoring it to Holyrood.
Further, many of the other projects laid out on Friday – such as the £20 million “town plans” – had already been announced under the Tory government. However, Labour said that the Conservatives had not allocated any funding, while they now have.
The SNP said that the announcement showed they were “winning the argument” when it comes to the need for greater investment in Scotland.
Labour said that the £1.4bn investment over the next 10 years will come as “in addition to” the increased funding levels for the Scottish Government as a result of the Budget on Wednesday.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves’s spending plans meant an additional £1.5bn for the SNP Government’s Budget this year, and an extra £3.4bn for 2025/2026.
The projects confirmed to be funded by the UK Government, for a total of £1.38bn, are:
- South Ayrshire – Levelling Up Fund (LUF) Round 3: Levelling Up For Ayrshire: Commercial and Low Carbon Infrastructure: £20,000,000
- Glasgow City – LUF Round 3 Drumchapel Town Centre Regeneration: £14,979,646
- Moray – LUF Round 3 Elgin City Centre Masterplan: Levelling Up Moray: £18,291,00
- North Ayrshire – LUF Round 3 Levelling Up For Ayrshire: Commercial and Low Carbon Infrastructure: £17,456,821
- Dumfries and Galloway – LUF Round 3 Dumfries and Galloway Transport Bid: £13,752,000
- Dumfries and Galloway – LUF Round 3 Three Rivers Active Tourism Project – joint with South Lanarkshire and Scottish Borders: £22,809,416
- South Lanarkshire – LUF Round 3 National Business District: Shawfield – Remediation and Development: £14,637,600
- Shetland – LUF Round 2: Fair Isle Ferry: £26,762,313
- North Ayrshire – LUF Round 1: Infrastructure Improvements on B714: £23,693,443
- Renfrewshire – LUF Round 1: AMIDS South: £38,725,218
- North Ayrshire – Town Plan: Irvine: £20,000,000
- Inverclyde – Town Plan: Greenock: £20,000,000
- East Ayrshire – Town Plan: Kilmarnock: £20,000,000
- North Lanarkshire – Town Plan: Coatbridge: £20,000,000
- West Dunbartonshire – Town Plan: Clydebank: £20,000,000
- Moray – Town Plan: Elgin: £20,000,000
- Dumfries and Galloway – Town Plan: Dumfries: £20,000,000
- Angus – Town Plan: Arbroath: £20,000,000
- Aberdeenshire – Town Plan: Peterhead: £20,000,000
- Orkney – Town Plan: Kirkwall: £20,000,000
- Dundee – Community Renewal Partnership (formerly LUP): £20,250,000
- Scottish Borders – Community Renewal Partnership (formerly LUP): £20,250,000
- Argyll & Bute – Community Renewal Partnership (formerly LUP): £20,250,000
- Western Isles – Community Renewal Partnership (formerly LUP): £20,250,000
- Glasgow City Region – Investment Zone: £160,000,000
- North East Scotland – Investment Zone: £160,000,000
- Highland – Cromarty Green Freeport: £26,000,000
- Falkirk, Fife, Edinburgh – Forth Green Freeport: £26,000,000
- Argyll & Bute – Argyll & Bute Rural Growth Deal: £25,000,000
The UK Government also has £492m in confirmed funding for Scotland "available for all non-full business case approved deal projects", Labour said, bringing the total close to £1.4bn.
MSP Daniel Johnson said: “Labour’s direct investment in these projects will strengthen local communities and economies – but we need a government with ambition in Holyrood too.
“Now Labour has ended austerity, the SNP is out of excuses for its own economic failure – it’s time for change.”
SNP MSP David Torrance said: "It's clear the SNP is winning the argument on the need for more investment in our NHS and public services. We welcome those areas where the Chancellor has listened, including the decision to change the Labour government's conservative fiscal rules to allow for more investment.
"However the Chancellor's decision to cut the Winter Fuel Payment will leave around 900,000 Scottish pensioners up to £600 worse off this winter. The decision to keep the two-child benefit cap and bedroom tax will push thousands of Scottish children into poverty. And the decision to raise National Insurance will hit low and middle income workers, and small businesses, the hardest.
"After 14 years of the Tories, this UK budget should have been the chance to completely turn the page but people in Scotland are still paying the price for Brexit and Westminster cuts, which are wiping billions of pounds from public finances and household incomes."
