In news that will anger a lot of people it has been revealed that a £150,000 grant from Boris Johnson’s levelling up towns fund was awarded to an amusement centre launched by the Tory donor Lubov Chernukhin,
Chernukhin, has given more than £2m to the Tories since 2014 and is married to a former Russian finance minister, co-founded the Owens entertainment centre in Hastings, East Sussex.
The centre received £150,000 from the government’s towns fund in October after a tender process, through a company called C&O Entertainment.
Another £250,000 went to the developer behind the refurbishment of the former Debenhams building in the town.
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Levelling Up
MPs howled in laughter as Michael Gove commended Boris Johnson’s leadership on levelling up in the Commons.
The former PM made an appearance during communities questions calling on the government to accelerate levelling-up measures such as Northern Powerhouse Rail, planning reform and devolution.
Mr Gove, who is the Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Secretary, began his response by thanking Mr Johnson for his involvement on the issue.
Mr Johnson said: “Given that the UK is one of the most regionally imbalanced of all the major economies and given the massive potential that is waiting to be unleashed, is it not time to accelerate the Levelling Up Bill now stalled and push forward urgently with Northern Powerhouse Rail, planning reform, devolution, secure affordable energy supply, gigabit broadband and all the other levelling-up measures that will make this the strongest and most prosperous economy in Europe?”
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Related: Levelling down? Regional newspapers slam govt as funds ‘funnelled’ to Tory constituencies
