Brokenshire: Councils may get access to extra Brexit funding

26 Mar 19

Communities secretary James Brokenshire has hinted local authorities might be able to secure extra funding for Brexit in future from the Treasury.

Brokenshire told the housing, communities and local government committee there may be extra cash available on top of the £56.5m previously announced for councils to cope with Brexit.

He told MPs on Monday: “It is worth highlighting that there is a further process that we can go through with the Treasury to seek additional funds to deal with short-term pressures as they emerge.”

The £56.5m, announced in January, will be split over the next two financial years, with £20m for each. The department will hold £10m in reserve while the remaining £1.5m is designated specifically for local authorities with ports.

Discussing the likely impact of a no-deal Brexit on the sector Brokenshire said: “There will be implications. I am not trying to pretend to the committee that there will not be.”

MHCLG produced guidance last week, which urged councils to prepare for increased tension and hate crimes following Brexit.

The committee also grilled Brokenshire on the lack of detail on the UK Shared Prosperity Fund, a fund to replace EU regional funding, which was promised by the end of 2018.

The fund, which was promised in the 2017 Conservative manifesto, will kick in in 2020, when the latest portion of EU funding ends.

Brokenshire said the Spending Review would clarify overall funding committed to the fund.

PF reported a leading MP's concerns that lack of clarity of the UKSPF was causing “tremendous anxiety”.

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