The Conservative candidate for Southport has been accused of an “outright deceit” committed against local residents by claiming that he’d secured £25m of funding for the town when its MP, after government officials confirmed that the money does not yet exist.
Tory politician Damien Moore has repeatedly made the claim in his campaigning literature and at local husting events.
Local Labour opponents have previously rubbished his boast pointing out that no money has been secured, that there is merely an opportunity to bid for up to £25m and that in any event, it is the council that has to make the bid and not the local MP.
Damien Moore was also openly mocked by large sections of the audience at the town’s largest husting event at Christ Church on Monday night when he tried to make the claim once again.
Some audience members pointed out he’d claimed previously to have secured £675m in funding and that Southport would get a sizeable portion of it but that the money never materialised.
Now, a letter from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government to the Liverpool City Region Mayor, Steve Rotheram, has revealed that Southport has not received £25m as the Tory candidate claimed he’d “secured” but just £173, 029 of capacity funding, to help it prepare to put together a bid for a possible grant of up to £25m.
It makes clear that nothing is guaranteed, saying that it is part of a government Towns Fund which will attract bids from across the country and that “it will only be agreed if high-quality proposals are received that meet the objectives of the fund” and goes on to say that further guidance would be given in due course.
Liz Savage, Labour’s Southport candidate, says the letter shows that her Tory opponent has tried once again to deceive local residents:
“I genuinely think it is little short of outright deceit being perpetrated by the Tory candidate on the people of Southport. It’s frankly appalling that he should do this, and it’s not for the first time.”
“His previous wild boasts of securing £675m were pure fantasy but to carry this latest claim as one of the main thrusts of his election campaign and then be so thoroughly exposed by his own government highlights not only on his own poor standards but the contempt with which he holds the town and its residents I feel.”
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