THE so-called levelling up funding has been shown to be nothing of the sort.

It was Boris Johnson’s big idea, promising cash to the more deprived areas of the UK that had been ignored and neglected for decades.

Like certain other big ideas that were designed to gain the support and trust of people in poorer areas, the government has proven to be big on promises, and light on delivery.

Glasgow has some of the highest levels of deprivation. That is well known.

In any table of economic and social deprivation, there will be areas in the city that feature prominently.

It has been the same for decades, the same areas – mostly in the east and north of Glasgow – suffering from unemployment and health inequalities, and under-investment has played a huge part over the years.

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There are also many areas in England, Wales and Northern Ireland that fall into this category, Glasgow is by no means unique.

And, it is not only cities but rural areas that suffer from deprivation as well.

The second round of the levelling up fund we have been told was judged to provide a geographical spread of cash.

If it is genuinely levelling up then the only criteria should be poverty and deprivation, no matter where the location is on a map.

In this respect, it would be expected that Glasgow would get far more cash than it did.

One of the bids from the city was for Possilpark, an area that anyone who knows anything about will tell you has been overlooked, ignored and neglected by all levels of government for as long as they can remember.

If you need proof just get on the 75 bus (it is pretty much the only public transport serving the area) and get off at Saracen Street and take a look.

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The bid was for the regeneration of Saracen, Stonyhurst and Allander streets, to create an urban park and build on work started by the community-led business improvement district to improve the main street.

When you get off the bus and turn off Saracen Street the first thing you will notice is the amount of derelict land.

Land from demolitions of houses and schools as long ago as the 1990s has left a landscape of decay that those who live there have to put up with daily.

There have been countless opportunities for Possilpark to be invested in over the years but they were not taken and as a result, some communities in G22 are among the worst in the country for multiple deprivations.

Long-term residents have had to watch as cash was poured into the Riverside area and the East End in various projects since the 1980s to the Commonwealth Games.

Another bid was put in for Easterhouse, again an area that has suffered for decades from decline and lack of investment.

If levelling up was the real motivation for the funding, these two areas should have been among the highest priority along with similar areas in other parts of the UK.

Instead, because of the desire to achieve geographical spread, areas that do not have the same level of need were awarded millions of pounds in cash.

One of those areas was Richmond, North Yorkshire which received £19m for its project.

While Possilpark features the highest levels of deprivation, Richmond is at the other end of the scale.

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Let’s compare the two.

In the part of Possilpark where the bid was for, it ranks as the 12th worst for overall deprivation in Scotland out of 6796 areas.

It is in the top 10% of most deprived in every category. For income deprivation it is ranked one, for health it is also ranked one, and for employment it is ranked sixth.

For Richmond, in North Yorkshire, the overall deprivation puts it in the second least deprived category. It scores 8/10 for income, 7/10 for employment and 8/10 in health.

Looking at benefits, in Glasgow North East, which is the constituency for Possilpark, the unemployment benefit rate is 5.2%.

In Richmond, it is 1.3%. The UK rate overall is 3.4%. Possilpark is far higher than the average and Richmond far lower.

For Jobseekers on Universal Credit, Glasgow North East has 5.7% compared to 1.6% in Richmond against a UK average rate of 3.6%.

So, it is obvious Possilpark is far, far worse off than Richmond. On any measure, the need for funding to come to Possilpark is undeniably greater than not only Richmond but almost every other area in the UK.

The comparison is night and day. For an area like Possilpark to be knocked back for funding that is labelled as ‘levelling up’ while an area like Richmond gets £19m is making a mockery of the idea of levelling up.

One final point, the MP for Richmond is Rishi Sunak.