British Prime Minister Theresa May will on Monday unveil the plans for the 1.6 billion pound fund for Brexit-supporting communities in order to help to boost economic growth with ministers declining it was a Brexit bribe in order to win support for her EU exit deal – Brexit deal.
According to Reuters news reports, The “Stronger Towns Fund”, whose details had appeared in a newspaper in February, is seen as a move by May to win support from opposition Labour Paty lawmakers for her Brexit deal.
Britain is still due to leave the European Union (EU) at the end of this month and May, whose exit deal with Brussels has been rejected by a large majority in January, promised United Kingdom (UK) parliament will get to vote over a revised Brexit deal by March 12.
The government said the funds would be used to create new job opportunities and targeted at a place that had not been fairly shared in the nation’s prosperity, to help train people and further boost economic activity.
In a statement, May said, “Communities across the country voted for Brexit as an expression of their desire to see change; that must be a change for the better, with more opportunity and greater control.”
She added, “These towns have a glorious heritage, huge potential and, with the right help, a bright future ahead of them.”
Finance spokesperson John McDonnell said the town fund was “Brexit bribery”. In a statement, he said, “This towns fund smacks of desperation from a government reduced to bribing Members of Parliament to vote for their damaging flagship Brexit legislation.”
However, Communities Secretary James Brokenshire told BBC radio the money wasn’t linked to support the withdrawal agreement and added, “This is funding is there regardless of the outcome.”
When asked if the fund was a bribe, he said, “Obviously we want to see a deal happening. But no, there is no conditionality in that sense.”
“It can make that difference on creating the jobs, actually putting the skills in place and changing people’s lives in a modern positive economy,” he said.