MP welcomes Local Growth Fund Boost for Livingston
Edinburgh and South East Scotland region, including Livingston constituency, to receive £37.8m as the UK Labour Government puts power into the hands of local people.
The UK Government has announced a financial boost for the Edinburgh and South East Scotland City Region, releasing £14,095,909 this month from the £140 million Local Growth Fund.
This locally designed three-year investment plan is targeting areas throughout the region with the lowest household incomes to create jobs and boost living standards. The funding released today will create high-skilled jobs, support local businesses, and boost living standards for working families. The funds will be used to deliver regional skills and employability programmes and capital investment in establishing flagship Housing and Net Zero Accelerator Hubs (HaNZAH) to train workers in green construction and retrofit technology, alongside a new Regional Intelligence Hub to inform regional economic planning following the model of the Glasgow City Region.
Where the SNP have centralised powers in Holyrood and have taken away controls from local councils and local communities, the UK Government is empowering them. Through Local Growth Funds, funding is being handed straight to local decision-makers. Regional leaders have been empowered to design tailored plans that build the infrastructure communities need most, delivering skilled jobs, and boosting living standards.
This is in addition to the UK Government’s Pride in Place funding for Fauldhouse, Whitburn and Blackburn, where a Pride in Place board made up of local residents and stakeholders decide which high streets to revitalise, which community assets to save, and where investment goes.
Gregor Poynton MP said: “People in the Livingston constituency know what their communities need better than politicians sitting in Holyrood, and this funding puts that principle into practice.
“This £37.8 million investment will help create skilled jobs, support businesses and give regional leaders the resources to invest in the priorities that matter locally, including skills, green construction and economic growth.
“Whether it is the Local Growth Fund or the Pride in Place investment already going into Fauldhouse, Whitburn and Blackburn, this UK Labour Government is putting power and resources directly into the hands of local people.
“The Edinburgh and South East region is now receiving in total over £1.2 billion in investment from the UK government to support local growth. In sharp contrast to the SNP’s centralising instincts and hoarding of power in Edinburgh, this UK Labour government is putting power, opportunity and investment directly into our communities across the Livingston constituency.”