Local authorities in the North East now receive £573 million less in government funding than they did in 2010, Best for Britain analysis can reveal. Analysis of House of Lords Library figures for Local Government Finance settlement data by Best for Britain uses Settle Funding Assessment data to expose the devastating scale of austerity cuts in the north and midlands since 2010. The data shows that across the English regions meant to benefit from the ‘stronger towns’ fund, there has been a fall of £8.3 billion in funding for local authorities between 2010/11 and 2019/20 – making a mockery of the £1.6 billion being offered by the Prime Minister over the next four years. Best for Britain’s analysis also shows that if all of this extra cash were directed to the ‘coalfield’ communities, there would still be a local government funding deficit amounting to a whopping £700 million. The North East is meant to receive £105 million from the government’s newly announced ‘stronger towns’ fund, but Best for Britain have calculated that this would only reduce the funding shortfall to £468 million when compared to 2010. The Best for Britain analysis does not include other funding cuts associated with the UK leaving the EU. According to MyEU data, the EU has invested £347 million in the North East alone since 2007. Moreover, if the UK remains in the European Union, the Conference of Peripheral Maritime Regions estimates that it will receive roughly €13 billion in regional development funding for the 2021-2027 period (about €3 billion more than it receives under the current EU regional funding package given many areas of the UK have fallen behind the EU average for regional prosperity). Commenting on the analysis, Best for Britain supporter Dr Paul Williams MP said: “These cuts have been devastating for some of the most deprived areas in our country and their consequences will be felt for years to come. “The Prime Minister was a key cog in successive governments who forced through this mean-spirited political agenda. She should be hanging her head in shame, not offering petty bribes and false promises to buy votes for her botched deal.” Best for Britain supporter Alex Sobel MP added: “This analysis highlights the devastating and cruel nature of Tory austerity in the north and the midlands. “This is mean-natured, brutal cutting of vital local authority funding. Not only does this seriously call into question Theresa May’s ability to provide any meaningful ‘coalfield’ regeneration fund post-Brexit, something I care greatly about having worked within those areas, it also completely undermines the integrity of her promises to Labour MPs given she was a key cog in governments that cut those areas to the bone.” Also commenting, Best for Britain CEO Eloise Todd said: “These cuts have been devastating and provide an insight into why the country voted to Leave back in 2016. Billions has been sucked out of local authority funding across England since austerity began. What the Prime Minister is offering doesn’t scratch the surface. “Meaningful regeneration of these areas won’t be achieved with a cheap bribe and will be much more difficult outside of the EU, which will see communities around the country lose out. MPs in these areas shouldn’t be tricked into backing a botched Brexit deal by a Prime Minister that was so heavily involved in cutting back local resources to the bone.”