Seven Scottish towns to each receive £20m levelling up cash

Seven "overlooked" Scottish towns will each be given £20m to regenerate high streets and tackle anti-social behaviour, Rishi Sunak has announced.

The prime minister said the 10-year deal would put "funding in the hands of local people" to improve communities.

However, the move has been branded a political ploy and "barely more than shiny headlines" by opposition parties.

The money will go to Greenock, Irvine, Kilmarnock, Coatbridge, Clydebank, Dumfries and Elgin.

The towns are among a total of 55 across the UK set to share £1.1bn from the levelling up fund which must be spent over a decade.

The Scottish government has said it was "extremely disappointing" that it had not been consulted on how the money could be spent.

Mr Sunak made the announcement ahead of the start of the Conservative party conference in Manchester.

He said politicians had focused on cities while taking towns "for granted".

"The result is the half-empty high streets, rundown shopping centres and anti-social behaviour that undermine many towns' prosperity and hold back people's opportunity - and without a new approach, these problems will only get worse."

The prime minister added the money would put funding "in the hands of local people" adding "that is how we level up."

But the announcement has sparked accusations in Scotland that it bypasses Holyrood by directly awarding the money to local authority areas.

Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross denied the funding - which will benefit Elgin in his own Moray constituency - was a political ploy ahead of the next general election.

He told BBC Scotland's The Sunday Show: "Devolution is about Scotland's two governments delivering for the area.

"I'm delighted these seven towns across Scotland will be part of that £1.1bn fund from the UK government - £2m a year over the next 10 years.

"That's going to be crucially important for local councils to deliver on real priorities for people in these communities."

He added: "This cash injection is going directly to local authorities here in Scotland because they know best how to spend money in their local area.

"I hope the Scottish government could understand and respect that and work with local authority partners to see this money makes a real difference."

Mr Ross also rejected suggestions that £2m a year over a decade would do little to tackle multi-million pound deficits in local authority budgets.

He said: "If you can find any council in Scotland that doesn't want £20m of additional funding over the next 10 years, I would be very surprised."

The UK government plan involves setting up a town board, bringing together community leaders, employers and local authorities, to decide on spending priorities.

The Scottish government said it welcomed all extra funding for Scotland, but "it would be much better if provided to the Scottish government via the Barnett Formula in the normal manner".

A spokesperson said: "It is extremely disappointing that we have not been consulted on how the investment could be prioritised to complement our ongoing work, and we are unclear on how the priority locations have been identified.

"We will nevertheless work with the UK government and local authorities to ensure the impact of this investment can be properly realised.

"We have already been working with local authorities to revitalise our town centres. Scotland was the first part of the UK to make a commitment to a Town Centre Action Plan and to adopt a town centre first principle, backed by funding from our £325m Place Based Investment Programme."

I understand the Scottish government had an inkling at the end of last week that there would be extra money spent in Scotland - but there wasn't any clarity.

On the eve of the Conservative conference, an announcement that seven Scottish towns would share a £140m pot of cash.

English towns will also benefit - but the inclusion of Scotland could be seen as a dig at the SNP by the Conservatives.

The money is there to assuage concerns about what's happening to our towns - it's there to help make them cleaner and safer.

Is the implication that the Scottish government is failing to do that?

We've been here before earlier in the year with the doling out of levelling up cash.

The SNP has been critical of that for bypassing the Scottish Parliament and snubbing devolution.

Similar criticism of today's announcement from the Scottish government - it's welcome but would be better if it was to be provided through the usual means.

The Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross - whose home town of Elgin will benefit - has defended the overall UK scheme - saying it's two governments delivering for the area.

The UK government is keen to emphasise their role in Scottish life; it's not exclusively for the Scottish government.

Today, the Scottish secretary is using his conference speech to accuse the Scottish government of "undermining the devolution settlement" to provoke unnecessary disagreement.

Both governments accusing each other of meddling - some may wonder what results genuine co-operation could bring.