Communities across the UK could get a European cash boost to fund improved housing, urban regeneration and youth-development projects if the UK rejoined the EU, the Rejoin EU Party’s candidate in the forthcoming Gorton & Denton by-election says.
Rejoining could restore UK access to billions of pounds in funding from bodies such as the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and European Social Fund Plus (ESF+), Rejoin EU says.
Gorton & Denton candidate Joseph O’Meachair told the Tameside Reporter local newspaper that, if Brexit was reversed, he would seek access to regional-development funding to support local housing and urban-regeneration schemes, adding that the constituency could serve as a pilot area for this approach.
Responding to local residents’ concerns about anti-social behaviour, O’Meachair also said that, if elected, he would push for greater use of European social-funding mechanisms to finance community-cohesion and youth-development projects.
The EU’s ERDF and ESF, now known as ESF+, reportedly poured more than £9bn into infrastructure and community-development and social-inclusion projects across the UK between 2014-2020.
However, the funding ended in 2023 following Brexit and such schemes have suffered as ministers have struggled to replace it, despite pledging to do so.
The UK lost access to billions of pounds in regional-development funding when it left the EU, despite government promises to plug the gap. We can reverse this injustice by rejoining,” O’Meachair said.
Party chairman Brendan Donnelly said: “If voters want to get European regional-development and social funding back, they should vote for the Rejoin EU Party in Gorton & Denton on February 26 and in the local-council elections in May.
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