When Scotland was taken out of the EU, the Tory government of the day recognised the need to replace EU Structural Funds to keep infrastructure projects and a range of services going.

Originally called the Shared Prosperity Fund, it matched the EU funding, and Glasgow benefited from it to the tune of £27 million over three years. In the 2025-26 financial year, Glasgow’s allocation was cut by 25%, awarding the city £9 million for day-to-day spending (known as the “revenue” allocation) and £2.7 million for infrastructure (the “capital” allocation).

This funding supported a huge amount of work in Glasgow, delivered by bodies like the Chamber of Commerce, third sector partners, and Council departments and arms-length organisations.

Grants were provided to over 500 businesses, and employability projects engaging over 10,000 people were funded through this money.

Now the Labour government has replaced the Shared Prosperity Fund with a new one, the Local Growth Fund, and things have changed significantly. The revenue allocation for all eight councils in the Glasgow City Region is more than £10 million less than Glasgow City Council alone was previously awarded. This puts employability schemes and third sector groups at huge risk, with Labour cutting programmes even the Tories recognised the need to keep.

This is happening just weeks after it transpired that the new Pride in Place fund also replaces existing income for the city, rather than adding to it. Glasgow Labour’s own leader at the time was literally speechless in a committee when he found this out, simply saying that he was “shocked”.

This isn’t the change Glasgow was promised by Labour. It puts jobs, businesses, skills development, and employability at risk, at extremely short notice, and is simply not good enough.

The response to this from Labour politicians who are supposed to represent Glasgow and defend its interests has been sadly predictable, calling on the Scottish Government to once again make up for cuts their own party has imposed. It now feels like the Treasury would take the shirt of your back and tell you to ask the Scottish Government to buy you a new one. That’s not the kind of representation Glasgow needs.