MPs demand answers over UK Shared Prosperity Fund

A group of MPs has written to the communities secretary, demanding more information on the upcoming UK Shared Prosperity Fund.

The letter to Robert Jenrick has been signed by the chairs of four parliamentary select committee’s – housing, communities, and local government, Northern Ireland affairs, Scottish affairs and Welsh affairs.

The UK Shared Prosperity Fund is due to replace various EU regeneration funding streams after Brexit.

The fund was first announced by the Conservatives in their 2017 general election manifesto, but details remain scant about how the fund will work or how much money will be allocated to it.

The letter notes that the government has ‘yet to publish any firm proposals’ about the fund.

‘Ministerial updates, both in the chamber and at select committees, have lacked some of the details which we would have hoped for’.

‘Whilst we acknowledge the impact that the COVID-19 has had on capacity across Whitehall, we are also conscious of the need for timely decisions on the Shared Prosperity Fund to be made, so that a smooth transition can take place on 1 January 2001.’

The letter also asks the communities secretary to confirm the current timetable for the fund, will it be ready for the 1 January deadline and how long with funding be available for.

In February, an independent commission called on the government to ‘go big or go home’ and set the UK Shared Prosperity Fund at £15bn for 20 years.

In its final report, the UK2070 Commission warned the UK is one of the most ‘spatially unequal’ economies in the developed world and calls on the government to take action to rebalance spending and investment.

And in January, a report by the Industrial Communities Alliance warned the fund needs to be set at £4bn a year if – as widely predicted – it is to be merged with the British government’s Local Growth Fund.

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