London mayor Sadiq Khan has accused the Government of forcing councils to waste money bidding for cash as part of the ‘levelling up’ policy.
He told the House of Commons levelling up committee that councils were criticised if they failed to bid for funding from Westminster even though only one in five succeeded.
The £2bn policy had been a ‘disaster’ for London and Khan accused the Government of scapegoating the capital even though it suffers some of the worst deprivation in the country.
His comments come in the wake of heavy criticism of how the ‘levelling up’ money was doled out, with discontent on both the Conservative and opposite benches.
West Midlands Conservative mayor Andy Street has also condemned the ‘begging bowl culture’ of central funding.
Khan told the committee: ‘Oliver Twist didn’t have to pay to beg. You spend money to bid, money to have the privilege of having a begging bowl.
‘We’re being hollowed out of the money we have, and we’re bidding for a smaller amount.’
Labour has branded the levelling up scheme a ‘Hunger Games-style contest where communities are pitted against one another’.
