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Apr 13 • 7 tweets • 3 min read
The UK Shared Prosperity Fund launches today - here’s a quick 🧵 on the main issues. 

1) the Conservative Party manifesto committed to setting up the UKSPF to replace EU funds lost to Brexit and that it would as “a minimum match the size of those funds in each nation”.

1/4
2) EU funds would have invested £10.85bn in the UK’s regions between 2021 and 2027, but the Government’s replacement fund has a much lower value.

2021 - £0
2022 - £400m
2023 - £700m
2024 - £1.5bn
2025 - unknown 
2026 - unknown
2027 - unknown

A gap of c.£8.25 billion. 🤦‍♂️

2/4
3) Focus at the launch will be on English region allocations.

For context EU Fund allocations in 2014-2020 were:

• Tees Valley £197m
• West Midlands £909m

NI, Scotland, Wales & Cornwall been promised the same as EU funds so less for other areas.

3/4
4) Having worked with EU Funds in both Brussels & UK, I know a domestic fund can be designed to be more nimble and effective.

At the moment the UKSPF is not better than EU funding, nor is it a decent replacement.

It’s value needs to be increased and capital funding added.

/End
The press release for the UK Shared Prosperity Fund is now online.

Unsurprisingly it refers to the UKSPF being less bureaucratic than EU funds.

Surprisingly for a press release about communities taking control, the picture is of @LUHC’s London office.

gov.uk/government/new…
A bit of context for those reviewing the UK Shared Prosperity Fund allocations.

• The West Midlands received £909m from EU funds between 2014-2020.

• The West Midlands will receive £105m between 2021-2025 under UKSPF.
In terms of action… as voters we should demand the manifesto commitment is honoured.

That means the Government ensuring the remaining £8.25bn will be made available through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund by 2027.

Only by holding our leaders to account will #UKSPF be fixed…

• • •

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More from @AlexanderPHRose

Alexander Rose Profile picture
Nov 8, 2021
A short 🧵 about the transparency flaw in the UK Subsidy Control regime.

I flagged this issue at a recent Select Committee appearance, but so far no steps have been taken to fix this.

Which is a big concern, because it affects how unlawful subsidies can be challenged…

1/4
Under the current Subsidy Control regime, a business can challenge an unlawful subsidy to a rival by going to court.

However a challenge must be brought in a short window that only starts when information about the subsidy is published on the national transparency website.

2/4
Yet the national transparency database is set up in such a way that key information is not available.

This award was posted in late October 2021, but there’s no way for a potential challenger to discover this.

That undermines the challenge process.

tinyurl.com/YPagb

3/4
Read 4 tweets
Alexander Rose Profile picture
Sep 21, 2021
The Subsidy Control Bill has its second reading in Parliament tomorrow providing MPs with their first opportunity to debate the principles of this important piece of post-#Brexit legislation.

In this 🧵 I set out the main issues to look out for…

1/8 linkedin.com/posts/alexande…
1) Is the overall strategy correct?

The Subsidy Control Bill aims to create a more permissive system than under EU State aid rules.

Doing away with EU rules will be popular but how will free market minded MPs respond to a policy of loosening the controls on public funding?

2/8
2) Transparency Concerns

The Government’s anti-corruption Tsar @JohnPenroseNews has raised concerns about the transparency of the subsidy regime.

Indeed there are fewer subsidies listed on the national database than public bodies awarding subsidies

tinyurl.com/Subsy

3/8
Read 8 tweets
Alexander Rose Profile picture
Jan 20, 2021
The European Commission has published a notice which pushes back on the UK government’s interpretation of when State aid law will apply under the Northern Ireland Protocol.

Is the honeymoon over? Will the EU start challenging UK subsidies?

ec.europa.eu/info/sites/inf…
You’ll recall that on 31 December, @beisgovuk published guidance on the new Subsidy Control regime.

The Northern Ireland Protocol section took a surprisingly robust approach to interpreting when EU State aid law needs to be applied and when it doesn’t.
Some of this was supported by the contents of a joint statement between the UK and EU, but crucially the words “liable to have an effect on trade” were downplayed.
Read 10 tweets
Alexander Rose Profile picture
Jan 1, 2021
A few thoughts on the new Subsidy Control guidance...

1/5
Although the Subsidy Control guidance is clearly intended to be helpful, it’s very complicated.

Statements like the one below, are likely to have a chilling effect on the award of public funding.

2/5
The need for a “dual assessment” (taking account of EU State aid law as well as UK Subsidy Control rules) is necessary for awards due to Article 10 of the Northern Ireland Protocol.

The guidance is more optimistic on the impact of Article 10 than @GeorgePeretzQC (below).

3/5
Read 6 tweets
Alexander Rose Profile picture
Oct 20, 2020
What happens in the absence of State aid rules?

A couple of US examples provide some insight.

Firstly subsidy races. Each year the US public sector spends c.$100 bn persuading businesses to relocate within the US. No real benefit for US economy.

theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/…

•1•
Subsidy auctions are competitions organised by big companies to play off funding bodies and generate the biggest taxpayer funded subsidy.

State aid rules act as a backstop for the public sector to collectively refuse to go beyond set values. Bids win on merit, not money.

•2•
In 2017 Amazon launched a subsidy auction in the US for a ‘second’ headquarters.

With weak subsidy control rules over 238 cities bid against each other.

Taxpayer subsidies spiralled upwards. State aid rules would have safeguarded the taxpayer.

•3•

marketwatch.com/story/what-ama…
Read 9 tweets
Alexander Rose Profile picture
Oct 19, 2020
Interesting article by @Peston - but here’s why I don’t think ‘State aid’ will end the UK-EU trade talks.

• A thread •
There are multiple reasons why it’s a win-win for both parties to find agreement on State aid which include:

> State aid rules align with the UK (and in particular Tory) mindset that subsidies should be a last resort;

> Frost has agreed sensible general principles on subsidies;
> the EU State aid rules don’t really constrain the UK, after all Germany spends 4 times as much under the same rules...

> Tech start ups can be funded under the EU rules. That the UK hasn’t is about budget not rules.
Read 6 tweets

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