THERESA MAY yesterday unveiled plans for a post-Brexit spending blitz in Scotland as part of a new £9 billion fund to rebuild Britain using money that currently goes to the EU.
Vowing to keep our “precious” union together, the PM said Scotland would share in the proceeds of a new Prosperity Fund alongside forgotten communities in Wales and North as the campaign entered its final three weeks.
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Theresa May has unveiled plans of a post-Brexit spending blitz in Scotland and the NorthCredit: Getty Images
And she pledged “to take back control” of the £9.3billion of taxpayers’ cash that Brussels spends on investments in the UK and use it to “strengthen” the Union.
EU structural spending plans were last drawn up in 2014, with the UK pencilled in for £9.3 billion until 2020.
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The PM plans to plough money on forgotten communities on money that is currently going to the EUCredit: Reuters
Now Mrs May says this cash will continue and be used to set up a “United Kingdom Shared Prosperity Fund” after Brexit.
Yesterday the PM said the new targeted scheme’s “sole purpose will be to reduce the inequalities which exist within and between the four nations of our United Kingdom.”
She added: “We will take back control of structural funds and use them to strengthen our Union.”
Buried in the Tory manifesto small print is a pledge that “the money that is spent will help deliver sustainable, inclusive growth based on our modern industrial strategy.”
In 2016 the UK government paid £13.1 billion to the EU budget, and EU spending on the UK was forecast to be £4.5 billion on subsidies and investments.
Last year the Chancellor promised to honour all of these spending commitments until 2020, and the new fund will see around half of that money continue to be spent for the rest of the next Parliament.
The PM also told Scottish voters that “leaving the EU will also enable us to build a better future for our fishermen.”
Mrs May said: “After Brexit, we will be responsible for the access and management of the waters where we have historically exercised sovereign control.”
But angry fishermen last night said that as “a total backslide and fudged deal.”
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May insisted the UK may be four nations but 'one people' at the Scottish Tory manifesto launchCredit: Reuters
Alan Hastings of the Fishing for Leave campaign said “British fishermen have only ‘historically exercised sovereign control’ of waters 12 miles off the UK coast.”
He added: “But an international law change in 1976 means the UK’s Economic Exclusion Zones should stretch to 200 miles if Britain’s coastline.”
However as the UK was already governed by EU sharing rules by then, “historically” our fishermen have never enjoyed their full right to the waters — sparking the cries of betrayal.
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