Cornwall was widely derided for voting Leave in the referendum, against its natural interests given that it was in receipt of large sums of EU money. It compounded the damage and was further accused of naivety when Cornwall Council immediately wrote to the Chancellor asking that the 'promise' by the Brexiteers would be honoured.
(It is a fair question to ask why it was mocked for asking for the promise in writing. Were the accusations of naivety because no one in their right mind could have believed the Brexiteers in the first place?)
The new Chancellor chose the Olympic 'Super Saturday', right in the middle of the silly season, to release a statement about guaranteeing funding for scientists and farmers. (No, we are not in the slightest bit cynical.)
Cornwall Council has now issued this statement:
'Following the Chancellor’s statement on European funding, I estimate that Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly could lose out on £350m of funding that would have helped our residents and local businesses.
'The limited guarantee for some schemes leaves Cornwall hundreds of millions of pounds short of what we were promised we would receive by MPs who backed the Brexit campaign. Major funding streams such as contracts for EU structural funds and European Maritime Fisheries projects beginning after the Autumn Statement have no guarantee of continuation at all. This simply isn’t good enough.
'Cornwall Council is supporting the Local Government Association’s campaign for all EU funds to be honoured. With the continuing reduction in our funding from the Government, EU funding, or its replacement, is vital to support economic regeneration, helping individuals to gain new skills and businesses to create well paid jobs.
'Unlike UK funding streams, EU funding has been allocated according to need. This is a really important point for Government to remember and Cornwall Council will keep advocating for resource which is focussed on closing the economic and skills gap between Cornwall and the rest of the UK.
'We will work hard with our MPs and partners to try and secure the funding that will otherwise be lost to the residents and businesses of Cornwall. Cornwall Council will also be working closely with government to ensure that as many projects as possible are contracted before the Autumn Statement deadline.'
Don't you just love the simplicity of 'This simply isn't good enough'? Who says the British have lost the art of understatement?
A good place to start work would be the 5 Cornish MPs who supported the Leave campaign. They 'presumably' had some idea of what was going to happen next. And no, I don't mean vague promises and waffle, Mr Eustace.
