SCOTTISH rural projects are set to miss out on £14m-a year in critical EU funding post-Brexit each year, it has been revealed. Some 21 rural areas in Scotland will lose the funding on economic, environmental and social measures from EU Structural Funds. That is the warning from the Scottish LEADER programme, the key Scottish rural development initiative which has distributed £82m of EU funding between 2014 and 2020. That is in return for projects coming up with £68m matched funding. They say it has aided some 1,034 projects and over 2.25 million people. A replacement Shared Prosperity Fund was proposed as an alternative by the Scottish Government. But the programme says that was rejected and in its place is a £220 million pilot scheme for the whole UK expected in in 2021-22.
BREXIT will result in a range of projects in Scotland missing out on part of a £1.2 billion funding programme from April – and could cost jobs and lost opportunities, a senior figure has warned. The LEADER programme, part of the EU Structural Funds, invests in local initiatives and enterprises to drive economic and social change in local communities. Between 2014 and this year the Scottish Leader initiative invested more than £63 million, benefitted more than 1000 projects and helped more than 2.25m people. However, 21 rural parts of Scotland will lose funding on economic, environmental and social measures from the Structural Funds. Each programme lasts for six years, and the latest ends in April. While a replacement Shared Prosperity Fund (SPF) was proposed as an alternative by the Scottish Government, it has been rejected by Westminster, which has opted for an initial £220m pilot scheme – a UK-wide SPF – in 2021-22, announced last month by Chancellor Rishi Su