Rishi Sunak has been forced to deny handing Budget bonuses to Tory MPs, after it emerged almost 90% of a newly announced towns fund will go to Conservative constituencies. Of the 45 towns benefiting from the £1bn fund, unveiled by the Chancellor today, 40 have at least one Tory MP. And around half of the towns are in so-called "red wall" northern seats taken from Labour in the 2019 election – and which Boris Johnson is desperate to keep hold of. Of the £1bn in newly announced funding, some £886 million will go to towns with Tory seats – 88.6% of the total fund. But Rishi Sunak denied the fund was 'naked pork barrel politics'. At a Downing Street press conference, the Financial Times' George Parker also noted that Mr Sunak's constituency is in the "Priority One" list for the new Levelling Up Fund, also announced by the Chancellor today. The Chancellor denied targeting Tory seats. He said: "The formula for the grant payments for the new fund, to give them some capacity funding to bid for projects, is based on an index of economic need, which is transparently published I think, actually by [the Ministry of Housing, Communities and… Read full this story
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