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Originally Posted by Ignitionnet
Exactly.
Cornwall got extra as its GDP was less than 75% of the EU average, so it received convergence funding, same funding chain as Eastern European nations, to try and bring it closer to the wider EU.
As a councillor of mine proved very few realise how many programmes the EU was actually funding.
All well and good saying it was our money, which is true, but our own governments clearly had other priorities.
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Arguably, EU schemes, ultimately funded as they are by our own contributions, are a disincentive to Government action. It also neutralises regional depravation as an election issue.
These sorts of things should be front and centre of UK government policy. Perhaps, when the government of the day can no longer shrug its shoulders and outsource the problem to Brussels, the debate will change and we will start to take an appropriate interest in them.