A newly revealed letter shows Dundee was destined to miss on an £80 million investment zone deal, north east MSP Michael Marra says.
Glasgow City Council leader Susan Aitken wrote to both the UK and Scottish Government setting out her case for support on the same day the decision was made.
Dundee missed out on the investment zone, with a joint decision by UK and Scottish ministers instead awarding it to Glasgow and Aberdeen.
Mr Marra says the newly released letter proves a political “stitch up” to save SNP MPs in Glasgow and Conservative MPs in Aberdeen.
It comes after Cabinet Secretary for Wellbeing Economy, Fair Work and Energy told MSPs in Holyrood that the final decision was made on June 22.
On the same day, Glasgow City Council leader Susan Aitken wrote to Deputy First Minister Shona Robison and Secretary of State Michael Gove.
She set out the city’s case for the award, saying it had “absolutely the strongest case”.
It is understood Dundee City Council was directed not to send a similar bid.
Mr Marra says it shows Dundee “never had a chance” at winning the support.
He told The Courier: “The idea that you can apply for a grant in the morning and be given £80 million of public money in the afternoon is ludicrous.
“The truth is that the decision to cut Dundee out was a foregone conclusion, and the criteria have been retrofitted to the decision.
“Dundee never had a chance of this funding. We have the best life sciences university in the UK bar none. We have a tech sector with the potential to grow hugely. We also have great economic need.
“It is scandalous that decisions to award taxpayers’ money are being made in shoddy deals behind closed doors to try and save anonymous SNP MPs in Glasgow and incompetent Tory MPs in Aberdeenshire.”
Lack of clarity
Defending the process in the Scottish Parliament, SNP minister Neil Gray said Mr Marra should not “pit community against community”.
He said: “Scottish and UK Government officials developed selection over the period from April to June with regular updates provided to ministers throughout this period.
“Scottish and UK ministers formally confirmed their agreement to the approach and selected the two regions of the 22 June.”
Mr Gray added: “The Scottish and UK governments have agreed to a request from [Dundee City Council leader] John Alexander to engage on what further help might be available for Dundee and the Tay City region to ensure that we are taking full advantage of the economic opportunities that arise from those communities.”
Mr Alexander says he is “unclear” about the process which decided which area would be given investment zone status.
He told The Courier: “I met with the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities in person on the April 28, as did the Scottish Government.
“That meeting explored our city’s economic reality and ambition.
“We also asked for details of how the process would run, the timeline and clarity around the assessment criteria. Disappointingly, I remain unclear about the latter.”
He added: “As the only city-authority without a significant government intervention, it’s abundantly clear to all that both government’s need to reflect on this process as well as working with us to ensure that Dundee is not left behind.
“We look forward to putting forward a positive alternative approach which both government’s can and hopefully, will, rally behind and support.”
A Scottish Government spokeswoman said: “A robust, evidence-based joint process was followed to select the two regional economic partnership areas most suited to hosting investment zones. As previously set out, this was non-competitive and did not involve requesting bids from any region.”
The UK Government was approached for comment.
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