European Structural and Investment Funds Common Provisions and Common Provision Rules etc. (Amendment) (EU Exit) (Revocation) Regulations 2020

Baroness Kramer Excerpts

Wednesday 16th September 2020 Grand Committee

[Baroness Kramer (LD) [V]]

My Lords, sparked by the noble Lord, Lord Foulkes, let me say how refreshing it is that we are debating a part of the European withdrawal agreement that the Government intend to uphold—there is a positive note to start on.

Of course it makes sense to repeal SIs that are redundant and potentially confusing, and we support the changes before us today. However, this debate gives me the chance to press the Government with the same kind of questions that the Minister has heard from other speakers. By the end of this year, EU funds will go into a run-off process over the subsequent few years, supporting existing or agreed projects but not investing in new ones. Like everyone else, I am remarkably short on detail for the UK shared prosperity fund that will replace them. Frankly, that seems a little extraordinary, because we are only three months or so from the end of transition. I thought there would be a major consultation on this. Have I missed it? It is possible that I have, but I attempted to find it and, frankly, I could not.

A number of bodies have raised quite a few issues around the UK shared prosperity fund. One of the hopes is that it will be transparent, simple and flexible—you could accuse the European structural funds of not meeting that test—to enable it to respond to local needs. I ask this because centralisation rather than devolution seems to have become a theme of this Government. I would also like to understand what role Parliament will play, particularly compared to the European Parliament, in holding the Government accountable for what happens with these funds. I am afraid I do not understand that either; perhaps the Minister could enlighten me.

Will the objectives that the Government have articulated for this new fund, such as boosting prosperity and tackling inequality, be adjusted as a result of Covid? That matters because of areas that might not have qualified under the original definitions but which are not dependent, for example, on hospitality, the airlines or on public transport. I pick up the point made by my noble friend Lady Bowles that sometimes a small sector or area can be deprived within an area of overall prosperity, but that still matters. Will those areas that might not have made the original list but now, because of Covid, may be very much in need, be looked at as recipients for this fund?

We could better understand the impact on geographies. My understanding—the Minister can correct me—is that however you look at the analysis, it looks as though areas such as Cornwall, for example, which benefited from the cliff-edge approach inherent in the European funds, will be serious losers in every approach that has been discussed for the new fund. Is that right? Perhaps the Minister can help us.

Again, to pick up on issues raised, the Conservative manifesto promised that each nation would receive as much funding as if we had not left the EU. For how long will that be true? Areas are desperate to know how much money will be available, particularly as we go into very rocky economic times.

To pick up a point made by both my noble friend Lady Bowles and the noble Baroness, Lady Altmann, will we continue with the needs-based criteria or shift, as some have suggested, to an outcomes-based criteria? It makes a very big difference to which parts of the country and which kinds of projects receive funding rather than others.

Generally, I join noble Lords in saying that this is a great opportunity for the Minister to tell us much more about this new future—it would be exceedingly useful.