Levelling up funding process is broken, says Conservative mayor Andy Street

The Conservative politician for the West Midlands has lashed retired astatine the process for allocating levelling up funds, calling for an extremity to Whitehall's "broken begging vessel culture".

In an aggravated statement, Andy Street said helium wanted ministers to warrant wherefore "the majority" of bids successful his portion had been rejected.

The West Midlands received £155m from a £2.1bn cookware of levelling up funds.

The PM has argued the astir deprived areas would payment from the money.

Speaking from Morecambe successful Lancashire - which volition get £50m to physique an eco-tourism attraction - Rishi Sunak said his authorities was "completely committed to levelling up crossed the United Kingdom".

He said the process was transparent and that areas which had been unsuccessful this clip would person different accidental to use for backing successful a 3rd round.

The thought of "levelling up" - oregon reducing determination inequality - was a cardinal portion of Boris Johnson's 2019 predetermination campaign. Its purpose was to adjacent the spread betwixt affluent and mediocre parts of the state by improving services specified arsenic education, broadband and transport.

As portion of the Levelling Up Fund, launched successful 2020, section authorities tin use for wealth from cardinal authorities to wage for regeneration and transport projects. The archetypal circular of backing was awarded successful October 2021.

The north-west portion was the biggest winner, securing £354m and Conservative Lancashire MP Sara Britcliffe said she was "over the moon" her section country would person wealth to refurbish Accrington Market Hall.

However, others person complained astir the process for allocating the money.

Venting his vexation connected Twitter, Mr Street said: "Fundamentally, this occurrence is conscionable different illustration arsenic to wherefore Whitehall's bidding and begging-bowl civilization is broken, and the sooner we tin decentralise and determination to due fiscal devolution the better.

"The centralised strategy of London civilian servants making section decisions is flawed, and I cannot recognize wherefore the levelling up backing wealth was not devolved for section decision-makers to determine connected what's champion for their areas.

"The sooner we tin decentralise and determination to due fiscal devolution the better."

His concerns were echoed by Philip Rycroft, erstwhile apical civilian servant astatine the now-defunct Brexit Department, who described the process arsenic "completely crackers".

"£2bn of nationalist wealth is being distributed crossed the federation by a clump of civilian servants who person astir apt not been to the immense bulk of the places they are distributing wealth to - however tin this beryllium sensible," helium asked astatine a deliberation vessel Reform event.

Head of the Local Government Information Unit deliberation vessel Jonathan Carr-West called the strategy "crazy" and expressed interest that councils were putting "huge" resources into applying for the funds, diverting wealth from "other utile and indispensable things".

Labour's shadiness levelling up caput Lisa Nandy said her enactment would extremity the "competitive-style bidding" process but would not cancel projects that had already been fixed the greenish light.

Defending the mechanism, Business Secretary Grant Shapps said: "The information is you've got to tally a state somehow, you've got to person immoderate benignant of strategy successful place.

"Not everything tin beryllium decided successful the section municipality hallway oregon by the section mayor," helium told the BBC's Newscast podcast.

He said helium agreed with the conception that "the person you govern to radical the better" but "in the extremity we are 1 nation, you've got to enactment the wealth somewhere, decisions person to beryllium made somehow".

Other projects acceptable to get backing include:

The North West of England got the astir wealth successful some rounds of this process. The South East and South West fared amended successful the 2nd circular than the archetypal portion Yorkshire and the Humber did overmuch amended archetypal clip round. A 3rd circular is inactive to come.

The authorities has defended the allocations by looking astatine backing per caput of the colonisation successful the peculiar areas.

So portion the South East got astir doubly arsenic overmuch wealth arsenic the North East, its colonisation is astir 4 times arsenic big, truthful its backing per idiosyncratic is considerably lower.

By that metric, London and the South East are adjacent the bottommost of the array on with Yorkshire and the Humber, portion the North West and North East are some adjacent the top, arsenic is Wales.