News / A ‘financial cliff edge’
INFRASTRUCTURE projects in Shetland and across the Highlands and Islands will face a “financial cliff edge” once the UK leaves the EU in March 2019, according to isles MSP Tavish Scott.
Scottish economy minister Keith Brown confirmed on Thursday that he had received no clear guidance from the UK government on the future of European funding for infrastructure projects.
He added that there was no resources within the Scottish Government’s budget to replace the European Structural Funds.
Over the last four decades the fund has been used to help finance major infrastructure projects in the isles, such as ferry link spans and upgrading roads.
Scott said: “There is no guarantee that then European Structural Funds that Shetland has benefited from over many decades will continue once the EU leaves the UK in March 2019.
“We face a financial cliff edge and governments both in London and Edinburgh have yet to work out how they are going to stop us from falling over that precipice.”
Brown said that while talks were ongoing “we are still a long way from receiving any detailed advice on what the future of European Structural Funds will be”‘.
He added: “What the status of these crucial funds will be after a two-year transition period is unclear. The UK Government has announced a Shared Prosperity Fund to replace this lost funding but has offered no detail on it even at this late stage.
“I am calling on the UK government to bring forward its plans and to consult properly with us and the other devolved nations on this vital funding which has helped communities across Scotland over the last 40 years.”
In the absence of clarity over EU funding, Scott also questioned the minister on what funds would then be allocated to pay for the 100 per cent roll out of broadband services in Scotland by 2021.
Brown replied saying that the government had yet to decide how the contract would operate.
Scott added: “Providing broadband links that work for every house is the right thing to do. European funds will help in delivering this objective. These funds are to be specifically targeted on the hardest to reach areas.
“Places where there is no broadband or it is very slow – and Shetland has plenty of them – need to be the starting point for the new contract.
“I will continue to press the government to make sure that is how the new system is designed. It must start with the areas such as Unst and Yell that have had no assistance so far.”
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