100 projects across UK to receive £2bn in funding – is your area included?

Published

3 years ago

January 19, 2023

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Rishi Sunak has announced that more than £2bn will be invested in over 100 projects across the UK through the levelling up fund – with £19m going to his own constituency.

Reinforcing his commitment to levelling up the country, the prime minister promised the latest round of funding would “build a future of optimism” by delivering economic growth and new jobs across the UK.

Labour criticised the fund, accusing the government of presiding over a “Hunger Games-style contest where communities are pitted against one another”.

A spreadsheet of the 111 successful bids released by the Department for Levelling Up shows that £19,008,679 has been granted to a project in Mr Sunak’s Richmond constituency after an application by the local district council.

The document says: “Richmondshire will receive £19m to transform Catterick Garrison town centre. This includes new routes for walking and cycling, a new town square, and a new community facility that will host new businesses and a community kitchen.”

Speaking to broadcasters in a visit to Accrington, the prime minister defended the decision.

“If you look at the overall funding in the levelling-up funds that we’ve done, about two-thirds of all that funding has gone to the most deprived part of our country,” he said.

“With regard to Catterick Garrison, the thing you need to know is that’s home to our largest army base and it’s home to actually thousands of serving personnel who are often away from their own families serving our country.

“It’s important that they have access to a town centre providing the amenities they need – that’s what that funding is going to deliver.”

Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove also defended the funding allocations, telling Sky News the government had “objective criteria that govern where money is going”.

Among the other projects is the Eden Project North in Morecambe, which receives £50m for a regeneration project designed to transform the Lancashire town’s seafront.

Also on the list is the Cardiff Crossrail plan, which has been allocated £50m of government funds – and a new roll-on, roll-off ferry for Fair Isle in the Shetlands is to receive £27m.

The government said the £2.1bn in funding had been split between £672m to develop better transport links, £821m for community regeneration, and £594m to go towards restoring local heritage sites.

Mr Gove said: “These are areas which have been overlooked in the past by previous governments – but this government is absolutely committed to levelling up, to spreading opportunity and to investing in the future and making sure that people have, whether it’s investment in higher education here or investment in economic activity elsewhere, the opportunity to prosper in the future.”

Projects in London, however, have received more investment than those in Yorkshire and the North East combined, and projects in the South East have been allocated almost twice as much as those in the North East.

Levelling up funding has caused even more friction

Joe Pike

Political correspondent

@joepike

Over 13 years of Conservative governments, we have seen the transition from George Osborne’s “Northern Powerhouse” project (which some argue laid the groundwork for the Tories’ 2019 “red wall” wins) to Boris Johnson’s “Levelling Up” and now Rishi Sunak’s own interpretation of that policy.

Grumbles from MPs in the Conservatives’ southern heartlands have clearly been noted in Whitehall. Today the South East has received more cash than the North East, Yorkshire, or the East or West Midlands.

While a number of affluent areas benefit, there is also funding for deprived communities in the south like parts of the Kent coast.

Michael Gove points out, very fairly, that North West England is the biggest winner.

But that includes millions for marginal Tory-held seats in Blackpool, as well as Workington and Copeland in Cumbria. More than twice as many Conservative seats benefit than Labour ones.

Allegations of favouritism are not, however, Labour’s only critique of this £2.1 billion funding injection.

Lisa Nandy claims that 15 months after the first round of allocations, just 5% of the money has made it to the communities who were promised it.

She also says the Conservatives are effectively offering a “partial refund” for money stripped out of communities in recent years, and Labour’s devolution plan is a far better solution than an occasional round of government funding.

Whitehall sources point out both Ms Nandy and Sir Keir Starmer’s constituencies are benefitting to the tune of almost £30m.

Ultimately it is ministers who make the final decisions and today’s figures show you are more likely to get a grant if you have a Conservative MP.

‘Centralised system of decision making flawed’

Some Conservative MPs expressed dissatisfaction at their local communities not having been allocated funding in the latest wave.

Robert Largan said he was “bitterly disappointed” that High Peak Borough Council had once again failed to secure £20m in investment.

While Conservative Mayor of the West Midlands Andy Street questioned why the majority of his region’s bids had been rejected.

“Fundamentally, this episode is just another example as to why Whitehall’s bidding and begging bowl culture is broken, and the sooner we can decentralise and move to proper fiscal devolution the better,” he said in a statement.

“The centralised system of London civil servants making local decisions is flawed and I cannot understand why the levelling up funding money was not devolved for local decision makers to decide what is best for their areas.”

‘Time to end this Hunger Games-style contest’

While Lisa Nandy, shadow levelling up secretary, criticised the fund more generally and accused the government of “extraordinary arrogance”.

“The Levelling Up Fund is in chaos, beset by delays and allegations of favouritism,” she said.

“It takes an extraordinary arrogance to expect us to be grateful for a partial refund on the money they have stripped out of our communities, which has decimated vital local services like childcare, buses and social care.

“It is time to end this Hunger Games-style contest where communities are pitted against one another and Whitehall ministers pick winners and losers.”

But Mr Sunak said two thirds of funding was going to the north of England and denied the levelling up spending is an example of “pork barrel politics”.

“The region that has done the best in the amount of funding per person is the North,” he said.

“That’s why we’re here talking to you in Accrington market, these are the places that are benefiting from the funding.

“We’re delivering on what we said, we’re investing in local communities, this is levelling up in action.”

Ten projects in Scotland will share £177m of levelling up funding, including £20m to help turn Arbuthnot House in Aberdeenshire into a museum and library, as well as modernising Macduff Aquarium, and £20m to refurbish the Palace Theatre in Kilmarnock.

Other investments granted include:

• £20m to Gateshead Quays and the Sage
• £5.1m to build female changing rooms in 20 rugby clubs across Northern Ireland
• £50m to create a direct train service linking Newquay, St Austell, Truro and Falmouth/Penryn in Cornwall
• £40m for a new Multiversity – a carbon-neutral education campus in Blackpool’s Talbot Gateway central business district

Levelling up was a key Tory policy under Boris Johnson when he was prime minister.

“The defining mission of this government has been to level up this country, to break the link between geography and destiny so that no matter where you live you have access to the same opportunities,” Mr Johnson said as he unveiled the government’s levelling up white paper last year.

The latest successful bids follow the allocation of £1.7bn to 105 projects from round one of the levelling up fund in 2021.

The government confirmed last year that round two funding would match round one, but said it increased this by more than £400m after receiving a high number of bids.

The total allocated so far from the fund to local community projects is £3.8bn.

The government has also confirmed there will be a further round of investment.

World

Hamas responds to disarmament reports as health officials say 18 killed in Israeli fire – including people trying to access food

Published

7 hours ago

August 2, 2025

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Hamas responds to disarmament reports as health officials say 18 killed in Israeli fire - including people trying to access food

Hamas has said it will not disarm unless an independent Palestinian state is established with Jerusalem as its capital.

The militant group said it was issuing a statement “in response to media reports quoting US envoy Steve Witkoff, claiming [Hamas] has shown willingness to disarm”.

It continued: “We reaffirm that resistance and its arms are a legitimate national and legal right as long as the occupation continues.

“This right is recognised by international laws and norms, and it cannot be relinquished except through the full restoration of our national rights – first and foremost, the establishment of an independent, fully sovereign Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital.”

Hamas also condemned Mr Witkoff’s visit to an aid distribution centre in Gaza on Friday as “nothing more than a premeditated staged show”.

Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy Mr Witkoff and Mike Huckabee, the US ambassador to Israel, visited a centre run by the controversial Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).

Hamas said the trip was “designed to mislead public opinion, polish the image of the occupation, and provide it with political cover for its starvation campaign and continued systematic killing of defenceless children and civilians in the Gaza Strip”.

Mr Witkoff said he spent “over five hours in Gaza”. In a post on X on Friday, he said: “The purpose of the visit was to give [President Trump] a clear understanding of the humanitarian situation and help craft a plan to deliver food and medical aid to the people of Gaza.”

Elidalis Burges, a critical care nurse in Gaza, told Sky News she saw the US visit as a “PR stunt” and that the American officials were “just being shown a small portion of what is actually happening”.

“I think the visit to the GHF site was just a controlled visit dictated by the Israeli military,” she said. “If they really wanted people to see what is happening here, they would allow international journalists from around the world to enter.

“They would allow the leaders of the world to come here and see.”

Hamas releases hostage video

It comes as Hamas released a video showing Israeli man, Evyatar David, being held hostage in what appears to be a tunnel.

Mr David was taken from the Nova Music Festival on 7 October 2023.

His family have given permission for media outlets to show the video.

More than a dozen killed by Israeli fire

Gaza health officials have said 18 people, including eight who were trying to access food, were killed by Israeli fire on Saturday.

Witness Yahia Youssef told Reuters news agency he helped carry three people wounded by gunshots and saw others lying on the ground near a food distribution centre.

In response to questions about several eyewitness accounts of violence at one of its facilities, GHF said “nothing [happened] at or near our sites”.

The US and Israel-backed GHF has been marred by controversy and fatal shootings ever since it was set up earlier this year.

According to the United Nations’ human rights office, at least 859 people have been killed “in the vicinity” of GHF aid sites since late May.

Dr Tom Adamkiewicz, who is working at a hospital in Gaza, has said Palestinian children, women and men are “being shot at, basically like rabbits”.

It is a “level of barbarity I don’t think the world has seen”, he told Sky News.

The Israel Defence Forces has repeatedly said it “categorically rejects the claims of intentional harm to civilians” and has blamed Hamas militants for fomenting chaos and endangering civilians.

The war in Gaza began when Hamas-led militants killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, in an attack on Israel on 7 October 2023 and abducted 251 others. Of those, they still hold around 50, with 20 believed to be alive, after most of the others were released in ceasefires or other deals.

Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed more than 60,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry, which does not differentiate between militants and civilians in its count.

World

North Korea’s opened its doors to Russian tourists. So… how was their holiday?

Published

7 hours ago

August 2, 2025

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North Korea's opened its doors to Russian tourists. So... how was their holiday?

The world’s most secretive state is a mystery for billions of people – but not Anastasiya Samsonova.

She has returned from a week’s holiday in North Korea.

“We saw nothing terrible there, there is no danger there,” the 33-year-old HR manager tells me.

“Frankly speaking, we really liked it.”

She was part of a group of 15 Russian tourists who were the first foreign visitors to a new seaside resort, which was opened to great fanfare by North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un in June.

Her holiday snaps show a white sand beach, shimmering seas and high-rise hotels. But something’s missing – people.

There are rows of sun loungers, but not a soul sitting on them. A glittering banquet hall that’s devoid of diners.

That’s because, when it comes to international tourists, the Wonsan-Kalma resort is currently only open to Russians.

“The hotel was absolutely new,” Anastasiya enthuses, unfussed by the absence of others.

“Everything was done very beautifully, a good interior … very developed infrastructure.”

But why not Turkey? Or Thailand?

I gently suggest that people in Britain might be shocked at the idea of a summer break in a country better known for famines and forced labour than parasols and pina coladas.

“We were interested in seeing how people live there,” Anastasiya explains.

“There were a lot of prejudices about what you can and can’t do in North Korea, how you can behave. But actually, we felt absolutely free.”

Anastasiya is one of a growing number of Russians who are choosing to visit their reclusive neighbour as the two allies continue to forge closer ties following the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine.

Last year, North Korean troops supplied military support in Russia’s Kursk region, and now there is economic cooperation too.

North Korean produce, including apples and beer, has started appearing on supermarket shelves in Russia’s far east.

And last month, Moscow launched direct passenger flights to Pyongyang for the first time in decades.

But can this hermit nation really become a holiday hotspot?

The Moscow office of the Vostok Intur travel agency believes so. The company runs twice-weekly tours there, and I’m being given the hard sell.

“North Korea is an amazing country, unlike any other in the world,” director Irina Kobeleva gushes, before listing some unusual highlights.

“It is a country where you will not see any advertising on the streets. And it is very clean – even the asphalt is washed.”

She shows me the brochures, which present a glossy paradise. There are images of towering monuments, pristine golf greens and immaculate ski slopes. But again, no people.

Ms Kobeleva insists the company’s tours are increasingly popular, with 400 bookings a month.

“Our tourists are mostly older people who want to return to the USSR,” she says, “because there is a feeling that the real North Korea is very similar to what was once in the Soviet Union.

“But at the same time, there is a huge growing demand among young people.”

Sure enough, while we’re chatting, two customers walk in to book trips. The first is Pavel, a young blogger who likes to “collect” countries. North Korea will be number 89.

“The country has opened its doors to us, so I’m taking this chance,” he tells me when I ask why he wants to go.

For pensioner Tatiana, the reason is sentimental.

“My husband wanted to go there, but now he’s gone. So I want his wish to come true,” she says.

It’ll certainly cost them. One week’s trip that takes in Pyongyang, a circus and the new beach resort, costs roughly £1,500 without flights.

At that price, I suspect most tourists will be content for this secretive state to remain hidden.

World

US manhunt for ‘dangerous’ murder suspect who dropped off baby after four relatives found dead

Published

7 hours ago

August 2, 2025

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US manhunt for 'dangerous' murder suspect who dropped off baby after four relatives found dead

A car has been found during the search for a man suspected of killing the parents, grandmother and uncle of a baby girl found abandoned in a US state.

Austin Robert Drummond, 28, is suspected of having murdered four relatives in Tennessee – James M Wilson, 21, Adrianna Williams, 20, Cortney Rose, 38, and Braydon Williams, 15, who were identified on Wednesday.

Mr Wilson and Adrianna Williams were the parents of the infant found alive in a car seat in a front yard on Tuesday afternoon.

Police say Drummond then dropped off the baby and made people aware of the child, in an act of “compassion”.

However, officers added Drummond remains on the run and should be considered “armed and dangerous”.

Ms Rose was Adrianna and Braydon Williams’ mother, according to District Attorney Danny Goodman.

No details have been given on how they were murdered.

Drummond dropped off the seven-month-old infant and brought attention to people nearby to come get the child, Tennessee Bureau of Investigation Director David Rausch said during a news conference.

The baby is safe and being cared for, according to Stephen Sutton, a spokesperson for the Lake and Dyer county sheriffs.

“While this was an extremely tragic and violent event… there was a sign of compassion, if you will,” Mr Rausch said.

“That tells us that there’s a possibility that Austin may have a sense that there is hope for him to be able to come in and have a conversation about what happened.”

Mr Rausch said he believes it was a targeted attack by Drummond, who had a relationship with the victims and their family.

A relative of the victims posted on Facebook after the deaths, saying the suspect has “literally been nothing short of amazing to us and our kids”, according to our US partner network NBC News. “We all trusted him,” the relative added.

The unoccupied car that police said Drummond had been driving was found on Friday in Jackson, Tennessee, about 70 miles from where the bodies were found and some 40 miles from where the baby was left in a car seat in a front yard.

The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation has said it obtained warrants for Drummond. He is wanted on four counts of first-degree murder, one count of aggravated kidnapping, and weapons offences.

Authorities offered a $15,000 reward for information leading to his arrest.

Drummond was convicted of one count of aggravated robbery in August 2014, according to public records. His sentence ended in September 2024, according to Tennessee Department of Correction records.

He was charged criminally for activities inside the prison, including attempted murder, after he completed the sentence that put him behind bars, District Attorney Mr Goodman said.

Drummond was out on bond on the other charges at the time of the killings, he added.