Wales and Cornwall hardest hit as UK loses out on £11.4bn in EU regional funding after Brexit A 22 per cent rise in support would have been due in the next EU budget

Britain is set to lose around €13 billion – or £11.4 billion – in regional funding from the European Union after Brexit, according to a major study released on in Brussels today.

UK regions such as Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland would have been entitled to a 22 per cent raise in support from the EU under the budget plans for the 2021-2027 period, up from the €10.6 billion or £9.3 billion that the UK receives in the current 2014-2020 budget package, according to the report, by a network association of European regions.

The theoretical hike in funding is due to the fact that many areas of the UK are falling behind the EU average in terms of regional income.

The i politics newsletter cut through the noise Email address is invalid Email address is invalid Thank you for subscribing! Sorry, there was a problem with your subscription.

This has been exacerbated in recent years by Britain’s widening wealth gap, in particular between Greater London – which is statistically the EU’s richest region – and the rest of the country.

Wales and Cornwall

This funding loss will be most keenly felt in two regions: Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, and West Wales and the Welsh Valleys.

These are classed as ‘less developed regions’, and currently receive most of the UK’s regional funding.

Three additional areas would have been able to join them in the post-2020 period: South Yorkshire, Tees Valley & Durham, and Lincolnshire.

All five of these regions stood to receive EU support in excess of €500 or £440 per capita per year for the seven-year period.

The report, published by the Conference of Peripheral Maritime Regions, a network of 160 coastal regions in 25 European countries.

Its members include the Welsh Government, several local authorities in Scotland, and Cornwall Council and Southend-on-Sea Borough Council.