Town in Douglas Ross' constituency among seven which get £20m in 'pre-election bribery' from UK Government

dailyrecord.co.uk:

A town in Douglas Ross' constituency is among seven in Scotland which will receive £20 million from the UK Government.Elgin, in the Scottish Conservative leader's Moray seat, will receive the money, as will Dumfries, in Tory Scotland Secretary Alister Jack's seat.The SNP has slammed the move as "pre-election bribery" and said that MPs and devolved governments were not told about it.The party also said it was "bizarre" that Tory seats were "hugely overrepresented".The other towns to receive funding are Clydebank, Coatbridge, Irvine, Greenock and Kilmarnock.These are among 55 towns across the UK which will receive £1.1 billion in levelling up in investment.The money will be provided directly by the UK Government to the local authority over the next ten years.SNP MP for Paisley and Renfrewshire North Gavin Newlands said: "This is an out the blue act of pre-election bribery, which local authorities, devolved Goverments or MPs were neither consulted with nor informed about."Was Paisley or anywhere in Renfrewshire considered?

In a bizarre coincidence, Tory seats just happen to be hugely overrepresented."The UK Government said the purpose of the ten-year endowment-style fund is to be spent on local people’s priorities, like regenerating local high streets and town centres or securing public safety.

The money is also to be used to set up a Town Board to bring together community leaders, employers and local authorities to deliver a long-term plan for their town and put it to local people for consultation.

Tory Scottish Secretary Alister Jack said: "I wholeheartedly welcome the launch of the UK Government's Long Term Plan for Towns. "It's great to see that seven Scottish towns will benefit from £20 million each from the latest