LGA deputy chairman, Richard Kemp, has criticised ministers for rejecting extra European Union aid designed to tackle the recession. Llast month, the CLG has rejected the offer of a further six months to spend an unallocated £500m of EU grant for England. Separate allocations for Scotland and Wales have been taken. The UK Government said it did not take up the offer because it would spend regeneration cash in other ways. But Mr Kemp said there was ‘an IOU' on the money, and that it was still ‘owed'. ‘It's pretty surprising that the Government feels in a position to turn down hundreds of millions of pounds which could be used to stimulate the economy.'