Norfolk and Waveney is missing out on millions in government cash because Whitehall "lacks understanding" of the region's challenges, a Conservative MP has warned
Peter Aldous, Waveney MP, called on the government to divert more money to Norfolk and Suffolk through its levelling up drive and expressed his fear the counties miss out because civil servants believe the region is "comfortably off".
He said the east of England has received the third lowest amount of levelling up money in the country - and that needs to urgently change if the region is to achieve its potential.
Mr Aldous said: "There is a worry that there is a lack of understanding in Whitehall of both the challenges faced by many people in the east of England and the exciting opportunities available in the region."
Speaking during a debate he secured in Westminster Hall, Mr Aldous said: "Down here in London, there may be a view that East Anglia is a comfortably off region, where levelling up does not apply.
"That is wrong, as we have relatively low levels of pay and there are deep pockets of deprivation in coastal communities such as Lowestoft, in rural areas and in larger cities and towns such as Norwich and Ipswich."
Norfolk did get £45m in the latest round of grants from the government's Levelling Up fund, for projects in Great Yarmouth and King's Lynn, but Suffolk missed out completely and the government rejected other Norfolk schemes.
Mr Aldous called for the government to better understand the region, which he said had the potential to be a "global powerhouse" in sectors such as low-carbon energy, agri-tech, life sciences and sustainable fishing.
North West Norfolk MP James Wild reiterated the need for investment in the Ely and Haughley rail junctions, which are crucial to improving train links.
Dehenna Davison, levelling up minister, said: "Ensuring the east of England reaches its potential really is core to the prospects of the United Kingdom as a whole."
She said she would "elbow" colleagues in the Department for Transport to meet MPs over the Ely and Haughley rail junctions.
The debate came as a national study into the levelling up programme revealed household incomes in some of Norfolk's coastal communities are almost £3,000 lower than in inland areas.
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