Nirj Deva, Member of the European Parliament for the South East of England has today (Thursday) hit out as European Commission plans to cut European Union funding to some of the most deprived areas of the region.

The European Commission is, next month, set to announce the European Union revised aid package, yet new figures released today suggest that funding to the South East of England is set to fall, with regional aid being diverted to new member states such as Poland and the Czech Republic.

Commenting on Regional Development Agency announcement, the MEP said:

“It is absolutely outrageous that South East of England is set to lose out in this regional aid review.

“Despite being a generally affluent region of the United Kingdom, the South East of England has pockets of real deprivation where money is desperately needed to attract investment and jobs.

“It is time for the United Kingdom to significantly reduce its contribution to the European Union’s regional aid budget in order to ensure that Britain has the money it needs to be able to tackle the all-too-real problems we, as a nation, face”.