Meeting of the Parliament (Hybrid) 27 April 2022
I reiterate the belief among those on the Conservative side of the chamber that, in the post-Brexit era, the UK Government must make every effort to ensure that there is no loss of equivalent funding to the devolved nations in terms of the money that we would have had available had the UK still been part of the EU. Whether it is provided via the community renewal fund, the levelling up fund or the shared prosperity fund, it is absolutely vital that there is at least equivalent funding to address the loss of EU structural funds. In other words, to adopt one of the principles of the Smith commission, there must be no detriment.
However, I stress once again, as I did in the previous debate on exactly the same issue, that three things matter in the whole debate. Those are, first, the very best interests of Scotland, especially in terms of improving our economic performance; secondly, that our local authorities, which have, for a long time, been asking for more autonomy, should feel empowered; and thirdly, that there is a joined-up approach between Westminster, the Scottish Government and local authorities. I will dwell on each of those for a minute.
In recent weeks, this Parliament has had two debates on the cost of living crisis, and quite rightly so. In both debates, the Scottish National Party set out its very strong criticism of UK Government economic policy. It claimed that the policy direction was all wrong as it ignored the plight of the poorest in society and was failing to address the concerns of Scotland’s communities where there is low economic growth and investment and fewer opportunities in the job market.
What I do not understand, therefore, is why the SNP is continuing to moan about the shared prosperity fund when it is designed to do just that—namely, to address the economic imbalance and income gap.