Gove threat on Leadsom amendment would’ve seen six areas lose £133million, say Lib Dems

The alleged threat Minister for Levelling Up Michael Gove delivered to MPs ahead of the vote on the Leadsom amendment would have cost residents of those constituencies some £133 million, analysis by the Liberal Democrats has shown.

It comes in light of Dominic Raab’s comments on the Today Programme this morning, which failed to rule out that threats may have been made to revoke the constituency funding of rebel Tory MPs who were minded to vote against the government in the Owen Paterson lobbying row.

Of the 13 Conservative backbenchers that voted against the Leadsom amendment, five had secured funding via the Towns Fund and one via the Levelling Up Fund. The six bids are worth a combined £133 million.

The six areas are: Newcastle-under-Lyme; Burton; Forest of Dean; Hartlepool; Scunthorpe; and Carlisle.

It comes as reports surface that Government ministers threatened to block funding for Conservative MPs if they refused to follow the party whip and back the Leadsom amendment on MPs’ standards last week.

Earlier this week, the Liberal Democrats wrote to Head of the Civil Service Simon Case urging him to launch an urgent official inquiry by the Cabinet Office into the allegations.

Commenting, Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for Communities and Local Government Tim Farron MP said:

“It is outrageous that the Tories reportedly threatened deprived communities with the loss of millions of pounds of vital funding, all to try and protect one of their own.

“Today Dominic Raab failed to deny the reports that this kind of political blackmail took place are true. We urgently need an investigation to the bottom of this issue and provide the answers that the public deserve.

“This government promises to level up, but instead they are dragging our politics to new lows.

“People around the country are desperate to get a fair deal and fair funding for their area. Instead it seems they are being treated as political pawns on a chessboard by a Conservative government that is taking them for granted.”