Ian Blackford unleashes fiery Brexit rant in Commons
SNP political heavyweight Ian Blackford has gone on a Brexit-bashing rant in the Commons moaning about a missing £655billion in EU funding.
The 62-year-old MP went on the warpath during a debate over Levelling Up funding on Monday led by Jacob Young, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities
After Mr Young congratulated fellow Conservative MP Richard Graham for his work in his Gloucestershire constituency, Mr Blackford took to the floor.
Declaring “My goodness, what a con this is” Mr Blackford blustered “Scotland voted to stay in the EU” and moaned his constuency was now getting “zip” in terms of funding from the Tories.
The SNP MP for Ross, Skye and Lochaber said: “The National Audit Office that of the £9.5billion allocated in the first round, only £1billion had been spent”.
“Perhaps the Minister can say how much has been spent now. Is this not much like any other Tory slogan, meaningless in reality?
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“Once again, there is nothing for Ross, Skye and Lochaber. We heard from the right hon Member for Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale (David Mundell) about the importance of rural areas, but there is nothing for the Portree harbour bid, which would have made such a difference.
“I invite the Secretary of State and his ministerial team to my constituency. We will drive around and look at all the sites of the projects that were funded by the European Union, roads, bridges, harbours, sports facilities.
“That money would have come if we had stayed in the European Union, as Scotland voted to do. We are missing out on €750billion that the EU was investing in regeneration, and once again we are getting nothing—zip—from this Tory Government.”
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Addressing Mr Blackford’s fiery remarks calmly, Mr Jacob said he “was wrong”, and added: “I shall write to him following the statement on exactly how much UK shared prosperity funding his area has received, and I hope that when I do, he will come back to the Chamber to update the House on the facts of the matter.
“He asked how much money has been spent since the National Audit Office released the figures in March: £1.5billion has been spent since then, but I would be delighted to come up and visit the humble crofter’s constituency.”
Mr Blackford has previously described himself as a “humble crofter”, a nod to the crofting farming techniques used in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland. He had previously been the Leader of the SNP in the House of Commons but relinquished that role in December 2022.
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