HL Deb 22 December 1982 vol 437 cc1174-5WA
Lord O'Hagan

asked her Majesty's Government:

Whether they will make a statement about the review of the regulations of the European Regional Development Fund; and whether Devon and Cornwall are to be excluded.

Lord Trefgarne

The proposals to exclude the Assisted Areas of Devon and Cornwall (and others in Yorkshire and Humberside and the East Midlands) arose in the Commission's proposals of last autumn for the concentration of the fund's resources on the least prosperous regions of the four least prosperous member states. The Government have made it plain that, while welcoming the principle of concentration and wanting to see early agreement on the Regulation, it could not accept the exclusion of any United Kingdom Assisted Area.

Discussions have since moved towards a lesser degree of concentration which would render the exclusion of any United Kingdom Assisted Area even less justifiable.