Meeting of the Parliament (Hybrid) 27 April 2022
Let us see what is popular when it comes to the information that the UK Government is providing with regard to those extra funds. I do not think that those extra funds are in the least bit unpopular; in fact, the situation is quite the reverse—they are extremely popular.
I will deal with three of the SNP’s criticisms. It says that there is not the full £183 million of funding to meet EU levels. When calculating the sums, the UK Government took on board the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s annual exchange rate statistics. The SNP has used other statistics that do not reflect that data, and it has included in its statistics the LEADER funding, even though that is being replaced by other funds rather than by the shared prosperity fund. If the minister wants me to, I am happy to provide all the arithmetic that has been undertaken by the UK Government so that it can be measured against the information that has been used by his Government.
To more fully address the concern that the new funding might initially look as though it falls short—which was acknowledged by the Treasury Committee and by Michael Gove when he appeared at the Finance and Public Administration Committee—it is because some EU money will still be in the system until 2024-25.