Unfair fight for levelling up funding requires major rethink: The Yorkshire Post says

Analysis from the latest round of distributions from the Levelling Up Fund show that only 13 per cent of bids and funding were accepted by the Government, the lowest of anywhere in the UK.

Yorkshire councils bid for £940 million across 46 projects, with only £121 million accepted over six different bids including the Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's constituency.

In contrast, London, the South West and the East of England all were accepted for a third of their bids.

Back in 2021, The Yorkshire Post revealed how local councils had spent millions commissioning an array of private companies to support their efforts to receive money from schemes such as the Levelling Up Fund, Towns Fund and UK Community Renewal Fund.

In reality, what has happened over the past decade is that guaranteed local authority funding has been substantially cut and the lower level of replacement cash has to be fought over with no guarantee of success.

It is little surprise councils are turning to external experts to try and win support for their areas but the simply reality of the process the Government has established is not everyone can be successful, no matter how valid their applications may be.

Even if more Yorkshire projects had won cash, that would not mean the current system is fair or effective. If the Government is truly committed to genuinely reducing regional inequality, this is no way to go about it.