North-east MSP Ross Thomson came under fire last night for his claim that Aberdeen had been abandoned by the European Union (EU) during its hour of need.
He had previously claimed that funding to the local authority had fallen to around £60,000 – the lowest in the last six years.
But Graham Dickson, the deputy leader of the opposition at Aberdeen City Council, dismissed his figures and said there was a lot more on the way.
He said: “Funding of £3.09million for the Horizon 2020 project has been agreed.
“As well as this there could be as much as £5.48million of funding by the end of the year.
“It is utterly disgraceful that Ross Thomson, who was vice convener of finance only a few months ago has portrayed the figure as £60,000 when it actually runs into the millions.”
He added that Aberdeen was poised to benefit a lot more from continued membership in the event of a remain vote.
He said: “The amount of funding that is pending show how the EU is vital to Aberdeen.
“The types of businesses we have and the type of geography is best supported by being in the EU.
“I do not think we are making enough of it in terms of funding – we could do significantly more given the industry and talent we have.
“The funding coming this year is just the start and it is unlikely to be replaced by the UK Government.”
But Mr Thomson hit back, saying Aberdeen was getting a poor deal from both the Scottish Government and Brussels.
He said: “This is absolutely amazing stuff from the SNP.
“Graham has missed the fundamental point that we send more to the EU than we get back, we are a net contributor and Scotland alone sends £1.5billion.
“Any money we get back is not decided on by local people, if we vote leave we can take back control and spend money on our own projects like schools, roads and hospitals in Aberdeen.
“Aberdeen City Council gets a bad funding deal from the Scottish Government so maybe Graham Dickson should be banging the drums about the unfair funding formula from there.”
