Levelling-up Fund Round 2

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The shadow raised serious questions about the Government's levelling-up strategy, questioning its fairness and effectiveness. He highlighted discrepancies in funding distribution, lack of allocation for several major cities, and criticised the overall approach as wasteful and inadequate.

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Inquiring about post-rejection dialogue between unsuccessful bidders and departmental officials to explore alternative funding avenues.

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Suggesting Scotland's share is disproportionately low and questioning whether distribution criteria are needs-based or politically motivated, referencing disparity between affluent and economically challenged constituencies.

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Expressing satisfaction with Malvern Theatres receiving nearly £20 million and encouraging unsuccessful bidders to improve their bids for future rounds.

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Why do we not stop the pretence that this has anything whatever to do with levelling up? Councils have to spend a lot of time bidding for one of about 300 pots of money. There is no real strategy at all and no joining up between the different bids. They look more like photo opportunities so that Ministers can go around the country announcing the successful results.

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While I cannot hide my disappointment about today’s announcement with regard to Swindon, it is right to say that we have benefited to the tune of approximately £100 million from previous announcements. Will my right hon. and learned Friend work closely with me and Swindon Borough Council to ensure that we are able to be successful in round 3?

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If we rank the 317 districts in England, Nottingham is the 11th most deprived. Despite our clear need, not one of our three levelling-up bids was successful, yet the Prime Minister’s own very wealthy constituency was awarded £19 million. When will the Government end this ridiculous charade of favouritism and truly level up places such as Nottingham by restoring the billions in funding that Conservative Governments have cut since 2010?

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Dover is a priority 1 area and we were unsuccessful in the first round. We engaged with officials who enabled us to put in a different, successful bid for £18 million for our new creative and digital hub. I would be grateful if my right hon. and learned Friend could encourage everyone who has been unsuccessful to take that guidance and keep going.

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This has been another kick in the teeth for the people of Leeds from this Conservative Government. After cuts totalling £2 billion to Leeds City Council’s funding since 2010, a bid to redevelop Fearnville sports centre in my constituency has been rejected yet again. All six bids from Leeds were rejected. There are zero pounds for Leeds.

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I warmly welcome the funding that has been secured for transport projects in Staffordshire, including in Cannock, which will support the regeneration of Cannock town centre. May I invite my right hon. and learned Friend to Cannock to show her what our plans are and how this is going to make a real difference to my constituents?

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My levelling-up bid for a closure and redevelopment in Pencoed was rejected despite Department for Transport Ministers saying that this was the only way in which the level crossing issues could be resolved, and despite the Welsh Secretary and the Transport Secretary announcing increased services on this line.

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I thank the Minister for her statement today and for her notification to me last night.

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Whatever concerns there may be about the process as a whole, I can only welcome in the warmest possible terms the announcement of funding for the new Fair Isle ferry. Will she assure me that if Orkney Islands Council now comes back for a second time of asking with its also very worthy project, it will be given the same help and support?

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Dudley was the birthplace of the industrial revolution, so industry, heavy industry and manufacturing have been the story of Dudley over many decades. For the very same reasons, however, for many decades, it has also been one of the areas of the country with low investment.

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In her letter rejecting our bid, the Under-Secretary of State said that she knew how much time and effort were spent on our ambitions for South Shields town centre. With respect, she doesn’t. It is an absolute insult.

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Blackpool’s successful bid for £40 million from the fund will deliver a new multiversity skills complex, which will help to deliver skills for the jobs of the future.

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There is bitter disappointment that the Holbeck bid—one of the most deprived parts of Leeds, which is the 18th most deprived in the country—has received nothing. Huge efforts were put into the bids and hopes raised, only to be dashed when they were unsuccessful. The MP asks if it's time to devolve money to local areas so that they can determine their own priorities.

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Stroud District Council worked hard on its levelling-up fund bid but was unsuccessful. The MP wants assurance that she can meet with Government officials to improve the application and involve local enterprise partnerships.

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Does the Minister believe that Bradford, identified as the UK’s No. 1 levelling-up opportunity, will think this outcome is fair when none of its bids were successful in this round?

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Disappointed about Keighley's unsuccessful bid for additional levelling-up fund money, the MP asks if the Minister will meet him to discuss this and ask officials to write to Bradford Council explaining how to enhance their bids.

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Critics the distribution as benefiting Tory-voting areas, noting only £177 million for Scotland and no funds for Coatbridge or Glasgow. The MP accuses this of being pork-barrel politics.

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Acknowledging strategic investments in Wolverhampton, the MP asks for a guarantee that the Department will work with her and the city council to refine any unsuccessful bids for future success.

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Critiques the rejection of Stonehouse’s bid despite it being in the bottom 0.2% economically, questioning how levelling up can occur when other areas are richer.

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Disappointed with Gedling’s unsuccessful bid, the MP requests a meeting to review history of its funding bids to better understand where things went wrong.

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Asks what the Minister has to say about Billingham’s unsuccessful bid given successful rich areas, questioning motives behind allocation decisions.

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Disappointed with Doncaster’s unsuccessful round 2 bid for Edlington, the MP asks for a meeting to start another campaign for funding in the next tranche.

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Critiques repeated rejections of bids from Reddish and Denton, suggesting wasted efforts on further bids.

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Highlights cuts to council budgets under this Government since 2010, impacting children’s centres, bus routes, and social care. The MP questions the sincerity of additional funding.

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As someone who, until earlier this month, was a local authority leader and the place-based regeneration lead for Greater Manchester, I know better than most just how much time and resource local authorities up and down the country have invested in this process. What assessment has the Minister made of the costs incurred by local authorities in doing so, and does she agree that they would do better spending that money on frontline services? Does she agree that this process should be scrapped in favour of allocating levelling-up funding based on need?

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Barnsley East has been rejected for funding again, yet the Prime Minister’s wealthy constituency received funding in both rounds. Will the Minister stop pretending that levelling-up funding is about helping areas that need it most and accept that there are serious questions to answer about how and where it is allocated?

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I thank the Minister and her Department for writing to me at 11.30 pm last night, an hour after the information was released to the press, to tell me that Hull City Council’s transport bid had been rejected. The bid was about Hull being the third most congested city in the country, with people waiting, on average, 73 hours a year in traffic jams. Hull has poor air quality and worse traffic than Bangkok and São Paulo. Will she admit for once that, having rejected Hull for the towns fund, the Government have absolutely no interest in levelling up Hull?

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I woke up this morning to the news that the “Rishi Riches” of Richmond have received funding for a second time—having their mouths stuffed with gold. The right hon. Member for Richmond (Yorks) (Rishi Sunak) flew into my constituency in a private jet and drove in a limousine past cold council houses and past the Minister’s former school site, which is now dilapidated. The six bids from the people of Leeds got no money. In the third round, the money should be devolved to the Mayor of West Yorkshire, Tracy Brabin. The people of Leeds have heard the Government loud and clear, and in the next general election they will be consigning the Government to the dustbin of history.

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The unsuccessful bids of North Shields and Wallsend were capped at 80% by the Government, who deemed our area not to be a priority, yet the Prime Minister’s leafy constituency and many marginal Tory seats were deemed a priority. Will the Government urgently commit to a review of the levelling-up fund’s allocation criteria to ensure that money goes to areas where it is really needed, such as North Tyneside?

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Further to your point at the start of proceedings, Mr Speaker, I am led to believe that Conservative list MSPs were also told well before the MPs who sponsored the project applications. Some of the most deprived areas of the country are in my constituency, which also missed out on its green freeport bid, which went to the much wealthier east. The fraudulently titled levelling-up fund is meant to replace EU funding previously allocated to deprived areas. How is it possible that areas of multiple deprivation missed out while the Prime Minister’s constituency, one of the wealthiest in the UK, nabbed £19 million, and while £45 million went to help fix the mess of the roads in Dover caused by the Government’s kamikaze Brexit? Is the Minister not utterly ashamed at some of these announcements? If not, why not?

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The promise of levelling-up funding rings hollow in many areas. The Government’s decision to overlook local projects in Axminster and Seaton in Devon, where I live, and also in Gloucestershire and Shropshire reminds people in these counties that they continue to be taken for granted. I know that Army personnel at Catterick garrison in the Prime Minister’s constituency would prefer to have homes fit for heroes rather than funding for a new glass pavilion in that town. What assurances can the Minister give the House that the Government’s method for assessing rural bids was objective?

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I am happy for all colleagues who were successful in round 2. I was disappointed to see that the bid to remediate Shawfield in my constituency was unsuccessful. The team at Clyde Gateway delivering the project have worked incredibly hard and have a proven track record. Can the Minister confirm how detailed the feedback will be for unsuccessful bids so that it can inform potential future bids from constituencies and give them the best chance of success in round 3?

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I thank the Minister for her time. I am expressly thankful for the levelling-up funding received in the last tranche, but I am concerned that Northern Ireland is not receiving its share in this round. Can the Minister outline what has been allocated to Northern Ireland and, particularly, to my constituency of Strangford, which is in desperate need of levelling-up funding for shovel-ready projects such as the Whitespots environmental scheme, which is ready to go and will create jobs and be a real boost for the Northern Ireland economy?