THE signing of the £1 billion City Deal for Edinburgh is expected tomorrow, David Mundell has indicated.
During Scottish Questions in the Commons, Labour’s Ian Murray bemoaned the fact that the UK Government could find £1.5bn for its deal with the Democratic Unionists but could “not find a solitary pen” to sign the City Deal for Scotland’s capital.
As Damian Hinds, the Work and Pensions minister, rose to respond, the Scottish Secretary could be heard from the Government front bench, suggesting there would be “excitement tomorrow”. Mr Hinds told Mr Murray: “I am told by my Right Honourable friend that he may have excitement coming soon.”
Other Whitehall sources also pointed to the Edinburgh deal being sealed tomorrow.
Later in Commons exchanges, Mr Mundell, under questioning about City Deals from the SNP’s Alison Thewliss, said: “I’m surprised by the Honourable Lady’s tone because this Government has committed to deliver City Deals across Scotland. There will imminently be some exciting news in relation to Edinburgh. I would have thought she would have welcomed that rather than simply politicking.”
The City Deal covers not just Edinburgh but also the other three Lothian councils, Fife and the Borders and will pave the way for a major cash injection focused on infrastructure, culture and tourism and housing.
It had been expected earlier in the year but was put back due to the local elections and then the General Election.
The deal is believed to involve £350 million each from the UK and Scottish Governments with smaller amounts from local councils and universities, totalling £1bn. It is also expected over time to bring in £3.2bn from the private sector.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel