Cornwall councillors engaged in a war of words over Cornwall’s replacement EU funding as the row over claims the Prime Minister broke promises continued.

Last week council Cabinet member Tim Dwelly accused Boris Johnson of breaking a promise that the Government would continue to provide funding to Cornwall at the same level as the EU after Brexit.

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Cllr Dwelly (Independent) said that Cornwall would need £100million a year just to “stand still” and said he feared that the first year of the Shared Prosperity Fund (SPF), which would provide funding, could give Cornwall just £1.8m.

Those claims were dismissed by St Austell and Newquay MP Steve Double who accused Cllr Dwelly of “misrepresenting” facts about the SPF and said that the council needed to accept Brexit and stop its “constant whining”.

At a meeting of Cornwall Council’s Cabinet this morning Cllr Dwelly raised his concerns again about funding for Cornwall as he presented a report on Cornwall’s recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic and post-Brexit.

He said: “We are on the eve of losing the EU funding that Cornwall has has had for many years. We have always hoped that the Government would deliver a similar amount of support for Cornwall that we had from the EU – broadly that is £100m a year because we are a poor part of the UK and Europe.

“It was very disappointing indeed to hear that the Prime Minister’s pledge to do that has been abandoned.”

Cllr Dwelly said that under proposals Cornwall may get just over half of the £100m it has identified is needed but warned that in the first year the SPF will provide £220m for the whole country and that Cornwall could get less than £2m.

He said he hoped that Cornwall’s six Conservative MPs would continue to work with the council to make representations to the Government for support.

Cllr Dwelly also highlighted the impact that Covid-19 will have on Cornwall saying that we are one of the hardest hit areas economically in the UK.

He said that between March and August the number of Universal Credit claimants had increased by 96% and that 37% of jobs in Cornwall had been furloughed – one of the highest rates in the country.

Cllr Dwelly said: “We desperately need help. There are things that we can and will do and I am sure that members of all parties and groups will support those things.”

He highlighted plans to invest an additional £3.7m of council money which will in turn unlock more than £23m in funding from other sources.

Linda Taylor, leader of the Conservative group, hit back at Cllr Dwelly’s claims and said that he needed to stop being negative.

She said: “His doom and gloom, self-fulfilling prophecy is going to be extremely damaging to Cornwall.

“He misrepresents the Shared Prosperity Fund and I endorse the remarks of Steve Double to reinforce the statement that the Prime Minister has made that indicate that Cornwall will not lose out on funding when the SPF is introduced.”

Cllr Taylor said that Cornwall was “facing really difficult times” and acknowledged that people had lost jobs, had reduced income and that businesses will find it difficult to get back to normal.

But she said that she was thanking the Conservative government for the investment it has made in public services and in support for businesses.

She added: “Let’s be a little bit more positive about what is happening in our business community, let’s be more positive about how the community in Cornwall is working to try and make things better.”

And she added: “Let’s thank this Government about what they are doing. Let’s rejoice in our communities about how we can make a difference.”

Council leader Julian German responded saying that he did not think Cllr Dwelly had misrepresented the SPF and also highlighted that the council was still trying to get the Government to allow it to use £28m left from a previous business grant support scheme to help more businesses.

Cllr Dwelly replied to Cllr Taylor saying: “When you say that we are claiming that we are losing out, we are, it’s a fact.”

He added: “We want to be positive but we need the Government to do what the Prime Minister said. It is evident that isn’t going to happen.”

And the Cabinet member added: “When you say rejoice I think people will simply laugh at that. We have huge challenges in Cornwall, we are not in a position of rejoicing or celebrating.”

Fellow Cabinet member Edwina Hannaford added: “It is really difficult to be joyous when you know that people in your community are losing their jobs.

“It’s difficult to be joyous when listening to broken promises made to Cornwall about loss of funding.”