A group of local authorities have lost their appeal against the Government’s allocation of European funding from 2014-2020.
Liverpool and Sheffield City Regional had argued the reduction of structural funding was ‘disproportionate’ compared to other regions and resulted in €275m being taken from English regions and given to Scotland and Northern Ireland.
However, the appeal has been rejected by the Supreme Court, by four to three votes.
Mayor Joe Anderson said: ‘We maintain that as Liverpool is one of the most deprived areas in the country, the Government should have fully assessed this to make sure there was no unfair discrimination when making its decision.
‘European funding is meant to tackle economic inequality, yet as the poorest area in the north west we were awarded far less funding per head than the rest of the region, including wealthier areas such as Cheshire.’
Mayor Anderson accused the Government of robbing the poor to give to the rich, and called on them to reconsider the allocation of funding.
