After much delay, last month the Government finally announced how its replacement for EU regional development funding – the Shared Prosperity Fund – will be allocated across the country.

In spite of it being almost five years since the fund was first announced, the answer for England at least, is: in much the same was as EU funds were prior to Brexit. This is a real missed opportunity, with inequities in the EU funding regime that could have been addressed instead entrenched in the new system.