Title

WHITEHALL

Porter condemns EU funding promise

Whitehall’s promise to honour EU funding commitments post-Brexit ‘falls well short,’ council leaders have said.

Whitehall's promise to honour EU funding commitments post-Brexit ‘falls well short,' council leaders have said.

Chancellor Philip Hammond has announced the Treasury would cover all structural and investment fund projects paid for by the EU on the condition the agreements were reached before the Autumn Statement.

However, the Local Government Association (LGA) said the Government's promise ‘falls well short of the full guarantee we are urging the Government to make.'

Lord Porter, chairman of the LGA, warned the Government's commitment did not go far enough.

He said: ‘Local areas need certainty around the future of all of the £5.3bn in EU regeneration funding promised to them by 2020.

‘The continued uncertainty risks damaging local regeneration plans and stalling flagship infrastructure projects, employment and skills schemes and local growth.'

The majority of EU funding agreements are tied up in proposals which are yet to receive government approval, Lord Porter said.

Lord Porter urged Whitehall to approve these and ensure local areas ‘receive every penny of EU funding they are expecting by the end of the decade'.

WHITEHALL

Why CfGS is needed now more than ever

By Ed Hammond | 23 April 2026

As Ed Hammond departs for pastures new, the Centre for Governance and Scrutiny’s deputy chief executive reflects on 17 years at the centre – and how governan...

WHITEHALL

Rethinking the Better Care Fund

By Mark Palethorpe | 22 April 2026

Moving integrated care from rhetoric to reality calls for an urgent review of how resources like the Better Care Fund are structured, governed and deployed, ...

WHITEHALL

Is income tax assignment a step change in English devolution?

By Mark Sandford | 22 April 2026

Kevin Muldoon-Smith and Mark Sandford say assigning a share of income tax locally could strengthen incentives for long-term, place-based strategy, but intern...

WHITEHALL

MPs call for 'effective sanctions' on B&B use councils

By Joe Lepper | 22 April 2026

Councils that repeatedly fail to end the use of bed and breakfast (B&B) accommodation for families facing homelessness should be hit with ‘effective sanction...

Popular articles by William Eichler