Hundreds of millions of pounds of EU grant funding has been received by Norfolk and Suffolk over a 10 year period, a new study reveals.

The report, prepared by the East of England European Partnership (EEEP), found over £365m worth of EU grant funding and £1.54bn of finance through the European Investment Bank has been invested in the east of England counties since 2007.

The EEEP calculated this enabled Norfolk and Surrey - two counties which overwhelmingly voted Leave in last year’s referendum - to leverage over £7.3bn worth of investment.

The research, commissioned by New Anglia Local Enterprise Partnership, included funding through key programmes such as European Structural and Investment Funds (ESIF) and the 7th Framework Research Programme (FP7).

It also included Horizon 2020 research and innovation programmes and the Connecting Europe Facility, but it left out agricultural subsidies through the Single Payment Scheme.

The LEP, working with other partners such as the county councils, will use this research to evaluate existing programmes and identify potential future gaps in business support provision.

‘We’ve commissioned this research to look at the potential economic impact of Brexit on our region,’ said Chris Starkie, managing director of New Anglia LEP.

‘We knew that European funding was important to our economy so we wanted to be able to see this full picture to assess what the potential impact of leaving the EU could be.

‘It means we’re now well informed to be able to look at where funding of equivalent value might come from in future.

‘This research will help to form part of the evidence base for our new Economic Strategy and to support negotiations with Government on the continued importance of investing in regional growth post-Brexit.’