A Labour Government would make up for any shortfall in structural funding into the 2020s and beyond, says the shadow foreign secretary.
Speaking at the Labour Party Conference in Liverpool, Emily Thornberry MP told the audience her party would cover any EU structural funds lost in the event of a Brexit.
The UK was allocated 10.8bn Euros for the period 2014-2020, money that would go to developing deprived areas. A British exit from the European Union would mean losing this funding.
Last month the chancellor Philip Hammond said the Treasury would cover all structural and investment fund projects currently paid for by the EU on the condition the agreements were reached before the Autumn Statement.
The Local Government Association (LGA) said at the time this fell 'well short of the full guarantee we are urging the Government to make.’
Ms Thornberry criticised Whitehall's commitment as ‘not good enough.’
‘Without long-term certainty over funding, our most deprived regions and communities cannot plan ahead,’ she said.
‘They cannot attract other investment. They cannot make progress.’
She went on to promise the audience that a Labour Government would cover the lose of structural funding over the long term.
‘Thanks to John McDonnell, Labour’s shadow chancellor, we can guarantee that a future Labour government will make up any shortfall in structural funding into the 2020s and beyond,’ she said.
