UK ministers pledged to match EU spending after Brexit. How’s that going?

Delays have ended support programmes for the most vulnerable, ‘throwing the baby out with the bathwater’

Over the past seven years, two flagship EU programmes have been a lifeline for communities across the UK. The European regional and development fund (ERDF) and the European social fund (ESF) have poured €10.8bn (£9.26bn) into roads, factories and social inclusion projects including further education colleges and into places such as Wales, the north-east, Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly – paying for everything from carpentry workshops for the blind to an upgrade of Hayle harbour in Cornwall to facilitate an offshore windfarm.

The ERDF sank capital into everything from new roads, university facilities, business hubs, harbour upgrades and sports centres in economically deprived regions while the ESF skills training, back to work schemes and other projects helped those “furthest” from jobs.