UK GOVT ACCUSED OF SHORT CHANGING SCOTTISH CITIES

 The UK Government has been attacked for "short changing" Scotland in multi-billion pound plans aimed at improving infrastructure.

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City Region Deals see local councils working with Holyrood and Westminster to sign-off massive targeted investments in certain parts of the country.

In Glasgow, the deal is being used to fund two new bridges across the Clyde as well as boosting skills development at universities.

The collaborative nature of the deals is meant to unlock huge amounts of funding at once and boost employment and tackle inequality at once.

Scottish MPs pointed to official figures which show the Scottish Government committing more money to several City Region Deals than the UK government.

But that was denied by the UK Government, who appeared to try and wriggle out on a technicality by claiming the figures included devolved projects outwith City Deal projects.

The Aberdeen City Region deal - covering both Aberdeen City and Aberdeenshire council areas, will benefit from £379million of investment from the Scottish Government, while the UK government has only committed to £125m.

In the Borderlands region – covering the Scottish Borders and Dumfries & Galloway – the Scottish Government invested £85million whilst the UK government allocated £20million less.

SNP MSP Audrey Nicoll said: “This is just typical for the Tories, their lip service to investing in the regions of Scotland always falls short and it shows. These figures are just another example of how they think they can do what they like in Scotland and get away with it.

"And it proves that, even as the Tories try to trample on devolved responsibilities, Westminster is simply incapable of delivering for Scotland.

“It also highlights how every region across Scotland is better off with the SNP, the party that is willing to go the extra mile with investment in areas of the economy that are important to Scotland and its people.

“Boris Johnson’s Tories talk a lot about levelling up, but this shows they don’t put their money where their mouths are and level up where it is needed the most. It will be the same old Tories focusing on investment in the South East of England instead of communities in Scotland. Just as we saw in the 1990s when money was moved from the north of Scotland to Tory seats in the south east.

“Scottish Tory MPs have also sat back idly as these city deals have been announced and not stood up once for their areas in the North East and the South of Scotland."

A spokeswoman for the UK Government said: “These figures are misleading and do not accurately reflect UK Government and Scottish Government funding for City & Growth Deals.

"They include Scottish Government funding for projects in devolved areas of responsibility, outside of and separate to the Growth deals.

"Growth deals are a UK Government initiative and we are investing more than £1.5bn in the UK City & Growth Deal programme in Scotland. This is helping to drive growth and create jobs right across the UK as we recover from the pandemic together."