Oral Answers to Questions

Patrick Grady Excerpts

Monday 4th December 2023 Commons Chamber

[Lee Rowley]

I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for his question. He might like to write to me, or I am happy to speak to him separately in order to understand the issue, and either I or my colleagues in the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero will be happy to respond.

[Patrick Grady (Glasgow North) (SNP)]

14. What assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the Government’s levelling-up policies at reducing regional inequalities.

[The Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (Michael Gove)]

A lot done, a lot still to do, but certainly much more than the Scottish Government.

[Patrick Grady]

In that case, can the Secretary of State tell us whether Scotland will receive more or less funding to tackle regional inequality than it would have received if we had done as 78% of voters in my constituency did and voted to remain in the European Union?

[Michael Gove]

We are doing better outside the European Union. If we had followed the hon. Gentleman’s advice and remained in the European Union, we would have found that the fishing industry was decimated by the common fisheries policy and we would not have had the opportunity to invest in new levelling-up partnerships in Argyll and Bute, the Western Isles, Dundee and, of course, the west central belt. This UK Government are intervening where the Scottish Government cannot to support local government in Scotland, which is why whenever I address the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities, I get a warmer welcome than the First Minister of Scotland does.