Press and Photo Gallery
LOCAL MEP BLASTS REGIONAL AID CUTS
Tuesday 20th January 2004
Local MEP Timothy Kirkhope today strongly criticised plans for diverting EU funding away from deprived areas of Yorkshire and the Humber. The announcement of the revised aid package by Michel Barnier, the European Commissioner responsible for regional funding, is formally expected next month, however figures revealed today inferred that funding received in Yorkshire and the Humber alone would fall by some 500million for the funding programme running from 2007 to 2013.
This recent development serves merely to exacerbate the problems already highlighted accessing funding across the region under the current programme, with the Regional Development Agency mostly to blame for past delays which have affected projects funded with the help of UK and EU funds.
Speaking from Brussels Mr Kirkhope said:
"This is more bad news for Yorkshire and the Humber which is already suffering from a shortage of funding through no fault of its own. It was widely suspected that the UK as a whole would lose out due to the need to assist the new Member States, but this is still a huge double-whammy for the region.
It clearly backs up my call that this money should be substantially repatriated from Brussels so that the UK itself can determine how to spend its own money in its own territory. Even Chancellor Gordon Brown has recognised the need for Britain to exercise more control of its own cash, I just hope he will have the determination to fight his corner in Brussels and ensure a fair deal for the UK's regions.
I shall certainly be making the case for this when these proposals come before the European Parliament."
