Northern Scotland is in danger of being “short-changed” by the UK Government after European Union funding ceases, an MP has claimed.
Inverness MP Drew Hendry demanded greater clarity from the government over its “shared prosperity fund” which, they say, will replace EU funding post-Brexit.
EU structural funds aim to re-balance regional social and economic disparities and have paid for the redevelopment of town centres, major road works and university research centres.
The Press and Journal revealed earlier this year that had the UK not voted for Brexit in 2016, more than £320 million of EU cash would have flowed to the the Highlands and Islands and north-east over the next eight years.
Mr Hendry, speaking in a Westminster Hall debate in the Commons, demanded that the new fund is “no less in real terms than the EU funding stream it replaces” and that the Highlands will not be “short-changed” by it, as some fear.
He said: “My constituency contains some big, iconic signals of that.
“Pre-dating devolution, the Kessock bridge crosses from Inverness to Ross-shire and it would not have been delivered without intervention from the EU.
“It has been transformational.
“Similarly, the University of the Highlands and Islands is now a physical entity and it has helped hugely.
“There is no town, village or community in the Highlands and Islands that does not show a wee EU sign to explain how it has benefited from that funding over the years.”
Mr Hendry said there was “real living alarm over the lack of detail” coming from the government on the replacement fund, adding: “Who will be eligible? How will it work? What will it be worth?
“Will there be—this has been mooted but not explained in any detail—like-for-like funding?
“Will that guarantee be yes or no, regardless of a deal or the catastrophe of a no-deal hard Brexit?
“Communities and charities have waited years to find out what will be available post-Brexit. The devolution settlement must be respected.
“Brexit will cost Scottish communities millions and this particular issue must not add to that burden.”
Local Government Minister Jake Berry, responding, said he was a “proud Unionist” who held “the awesome foursome of our United Kingdom” in his heart.
He added: “The SNP spokesman said he sees a wee European flag on many projects.
“One of my jobs in government is to take back the money from projects that forgot to put that wee European flag on them, because it is one of the requirements of the hugely complicated and bureaucratic EU structural funds that if someone does not put that wee European flag on their project, the money, in many cases, has to be recovered.
“We are consulting on a UK-shared prosperity fund to ensure that funding is simplified.
“We will be consulting shortly and the quantum of the fund will be set during the comprehensive spending review, in the same way that EU structural funds would have been.”