Skip to main content
Tories' national service plan will divert funding from poorest areas, Institute for Fiscal Studies warns
An armoured personnel carrier, on the training range at Bovington Camp, a British Army military base in Dorset, February 22, 2023.

RISHI SUNAK claimed he was committed to levelling-up after it emerged the poorest areas of Britain may be deprived of high street and community safety funding to launch the Tories’ national service.

The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) warned today that areas with high deprivation have the most to lose under government plans to close its flagship UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) and use £1.5 billion to support military and volunteering opportunities for 18-year-olds.

This could result in wealthier areas across southern England receiving “a substantial increase in net funding” as the UKSPF is worth up to 45 times less per person in areas such as Merthyr Tydfil in south Wales, Cornwall and the Tees Valley, the think tank said.

Morning Star call for advertising
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
More from this author
 Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer
Britain / 31 March 2025
31 March 2025
Starmer's ‘Organised Immigration Crime Summit’ fails to find the simple solution to upend human smugglers’ business model: safe routes
A person holding an energy bill
Britain / 31 March 2025
31 March 2025