In the Express today, the above.
It’s about two Westminster schemes that bypassed Holyrood and gave money directly to councils. It describes this as the Scottish Government “sulking.”
The two schemes are:
- Local Growth Fund: £140m over three years (from 2026/27) to five areas — Glasgow City (£60.9m), Edinburgh & South East (£37.8m), Tay Cities (£19.5m), Ayrshire (£11.8m), and Forth Valley (£9.8m).
- Pride in Place: Up to £280m over 10 years to 14 neighbourhoods in 12 Scottish local authorities (£20m each), for targeted regeneration. https://www.gov.uk/government/news/140m-scottish-local-growth-fund-to-drive-economic-growth
The Scottish Government’s position is that the programmes themselves were imposed without proper engagement and that their methodology does not match that of the Scottish Government’s own approach.
Is there independent academic support for the Scottish Government’s reaction?
Yes.
First, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation insists that this ‘serves no one, not least the people living in the communities who need support the most’ and that the funding is a ‘drop in the ocean’ relative to need. https://www.jrf.org.uk/neighbourhoods-and-communities/pride-in-place-the-scale-of-the-challenge-in-scotland
Second, Common Weal (a Scottish think tank) has criticised Pride in Place as a reduction in regional development funding presented as new money, and has said direct UK Government allocation of place-based regeneration funding is against the spirit of devolution. This overlaps with the Scottish Government’s broader objection to being bypassed via the Internal Market Act. https://www.commonweal.scot/daily-briefings/briefing-b6xzr
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Thank goodness you’re keeping track of Perfidious Albion’s many and devious lies and mendacity because the MSM fails to tell the truth. People who rely on it must be truly baffled. TuS restores a bit of sanity to the massive psyop that passes for “news” in the UK.
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