A video unearthed by the New Statesman shows the Tory leadership candidate Rishi Sunak telling an audience that the Levelling Up agenda was not after all going to make it more likely that government departments would spend money in the North rather than London and the South East.
In the video Sunak boasted to Conservative Party members that he was prepared to take public money out of “deprived urban areas” to help wealthy towns telling an audience of party members in leafy Tunbridge Wells: “I managed to start changing the funding formulas to make sure that areas like this are getting the funding that they deserve.”
He adds: “Because we inherited a bunch of formulas from the Labour Party that shoved all the funding into deprived urban areas, that needed to be undone. I started the work of undoing that.
Labour’s Shadow Levelling up spokesman Lisa Nandy said
“This is scandalous. Rishi Sunak is openly boasting that he fixed the rules to funnel taxpayers’ money to rich Tory shires 👇
This is our money. It should be spent fairly and where it’s most needed – not used as a bribe to Tory members.”
adding:
Talk about showing your true colours…
