Brexit administration costs a dwarf Leveling Up Fund Business News

The government is expected to spend twice as much on the Brexit administration as its flagship leveling fund.

In total, £ 12 billion has been set aside for decentralized departments and administrations to help them deal with the logistics of leaving the European Union. The new figure was released Thursday in the government’s annual statement on European Union spending.

The document also confirmed that departments had to draw billions of taxpayer dollars for no-deal preparations, even though a final deal was reached. Indeed, the deal was confirmed just days before the transition release date at the end of 2020.

The cost of administering Brexit, which has risen by almost £ 3bn over the past year, comes the same day Boris Johnson presented his vision to help poorer parts of the UK to catch up with the richest.

Part of the increase in Brexit spending was due to the £ 750million allocated in July last year, aimed at preparing ports and wider border infrastructure for additional checks on goods after leaving the Kingdom -United EU.

The £ 12bn figure eclipses the £ 4.8bn allocated to the Leveling Up Fund, of which £ 3.6bn will go to UK cities through the Towns Fund.

Mr Johnson sought to defend his speech after being criticized for its lack of detail, saying it was at least “the backbone” of a plan.

Separately, economists said that a comparison in the prime minister’s speech to Germany’s efforts to share prosperity between its east and west after unification posed challenges. Germany spent more than two trillion euros on this effort, and there is still a marked difference in employment between regions, three decades after reunification.